High Energy Emission from the Polar Cap: The Slot Gap Revisited

The characteristics of the high-energy emission from polar cap accelerators will be discussed. Particles accelerated in the "slot gap" near the polar cap rim will reach altitudes of several stellar radii before initiating pair cascades, producing a wide hollow cone of emission in young pulsars and some millisecond pulsars. Model X-ray and gamma-ray spectra and pulse profiles, based on Monte-Carlo simulations of polar cap pair cascades, will be presented.