Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2008-09-15
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Corrected typo in pulsar name. 26 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS. Astro-ph version is missing 528 figure
Scientific paper
10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13950.x
In this paper we compare the characteristics of pulsars with a high spin-down energy loss rate (Edot) against those with a low Edot. We show that the differences in the total intensity pulse morphology between the two classes are in general rather subtle. A much more significant difference is the fractional polarization which is very high for high Edot pulsars and low for low Edot pulsars. The Edot at the transition is very similar to the death line predicted for curvature radiation. This suggests a possible link between high energy and radio emission in pulsars and could imply that gamma-ray efficiency is correlated with the degree of linear polarization in the radio band. The degree of circular polarization is in general higher in the second component of doubles, which is possibly caused by the effect of co-rotation on the curvature of the field lines in the inertial observer frame. The most direct link between the high energy emission and the radio emission could be the sub-group of pulsars which we call the energetic wide beam pulsars. These young pulsars have very wide profiles with steep edges and are likely to be emitted from a single magnetic pole. The similarities with the high energy profiles suggest that both types of emission are produced at the same extended height range in the magnetosphere. Alternatively, the beams of the energetic wide beam pulsars could be magnified by propagation effects in the magnetosphere. This would naturally lead to decoupling of the wave modes, which could explain the high degree of linear polarization. As part of this study, we have discovered three previous unknown interpulse pulsars (and we detected one for the first time at 20 cm). We also obtained rotation measures for 18 pulsars whose values had not previously been measured.
Johnston Simon
Weltevrede Patrick
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