Sobre a natureza e detecção de fontes de rádios provenientes de pulsares.

Abstract

Knowing and deciphering the origin and future of the universe is a constant challenge that has led researchers to develop several techniques in order to analyze and understand it more and more. Radio astronomy, for example, has been dedicated to carrying out investigations of the universe from neutron stars, in the form of pulsars. Pulsars are neutron stars that contain a mass between 8 and 25 times the mass of the sun and have peculiar characteristics, such as high density and high gravitational field. Considering that pulsars represent one of the final stages of a star, carrying important information about its past, this work aimed to carry out a theoretical investigation regarding its nature and detection of radio waves from these neutron stars. For a better understanding of the subject, a brief review of some concepts of Optical Physics is initially presented, followed by a brief history of pulsars, their formation and propagation, classification and main applications. Finally, the structure of a radio telescope, an instrument used to detect the radio signal generated by these pulsars, is presented, as well as the process involved for this detection.