High energy radiation from spider pulsars

Abstract

The population of millisecond pulsars (MSPs) has been expanded considerably in the last decade. Not only is their number increasing, but also various classes of them have been revealed. Among different classes of MSPs, the behaviours of black widows and redbacks are particularly interesting. These systems consist of an MSP and a low-mass companion star in compact binaries with an orbital period of less than a day. In this article, we give an overview of the high energy nature of these two classes of MSPs. Updated catalogues of black widows and redbacks are presented and their X-ray/g-ray properties are reviewed. Besides the overview, using the most updated eight-year Fermi Large Area Telescope point source catalog, we have compared the g-ray properties of these two MSP classes. The results suggest that the X-rays and g-rays observed from these MSPs originate from different mechanisms. Lastly, we will also mention the future prospects of studying these spider pulsars with the novel methodologies as well as upcoming observing facilities.