Disentangling X-ray emission processes in Vela-like pulsars

Xray emission from pulsars can be used to probe both thermal processes, such asneutron star cooling and the surrounding supernova blast wave, and also the nonthermal physics of a pulsar.s magnetosphere and relativistic wind. The Velalikepulsars (ages 1050 kyr) represent a transition between younger and older pulsars, and are the key to understanding the evolution of these various sources ofXray emission. But because in these pulsars we observe all these processes atthe same time, it can be problematic to disentangle their different contributions. We here propose XMM observations of four Velalike pulsars in order to separate out nonthermal and thermal contributions to their emission, and to placethese energetic sources in the context of neutron star population as a whole truncated!, Please see actual data for full text [truncated!, Please see actual data for full text]