X-ray properties of the mode-switching pulsar PSR B0943+10

Abstract : The mode-switching pulsar PSR B0943+10 has been extensively studied in the radio band for many years and, more recently, it has been found to vary also in X-rays, with a flux anticorrelated with the radio emission. Here we review the results of long observations of PSR B0943+10 carried out with XMM-Newton and the LOFAR, LWA and Arecibo radio telescopes in 2014. These results support a scenario in which both unpulsed non-thermal emission, likely of magnetospheric origin, and pulsed thermal emission from a small polar cap (~1500 m2) with a strong non-dipolar magnetic field (~ 1014 G), are present during both radio modes and vary in intensity in a correlated way.