A broadband X-ray study of the Geminga pulsar

We present a comprehensive study of the Geminga pulsar at energies 0.1-10 keV using data from ASCA, ROSAT, and EUVE. The bulk of the soft X-ray flux can be parameterized as a blackbody of T=(5.6+/-0.6)x10(5) K, occupying a fraction, 0.10-0.64, of the surface area of the neutron star at the parallax distance of 160 pc. The ASCA detection of Geminga resolves the nature of the harder X-ray component previously discovered by ROSAT in favor of nonthermal emission, rather than thermal emission from a heated polar cap. The hard X-ray spectrum can be fitted by a power law of energy index 1.0+/-0.5. The hard X-ray light curve has a strong main peak and a weak secondary peak; its total K pulsed fraction is approximate to 55%. Three ROSAT PSPC observations show significant variability of Geminga's light curve. In particular, a peculiar energy dependence of the modulation in the soft X-ray component, dubbed the ''Geminga effect'' in the original PSPC data, is not present in later observations. In addition, fine structure in the soft X-ray light curve, interpreted as eclipses due to cyclotron resonance scattering by a plasma screen on the closed magnetic field lines, almost disappeared in the most recent observations. All of the variable properties of Geminga can probably be associated with the nonthermal process that supplies e(+/-) pairs to its inner magnetosphere.