WIDE RADIO BEAMS FROM {gamma}-RAY PULSARS
- Australia Telescope National Facility, CSIRO, Epping, NSW 1710 (Australia)
We investigate the radio and {gamma}-ray beaming properties of normal and millisecond pulsars (MSPs) by selecting two samples from the known populations. The first, Sample G, contains pulsars which are detectable in blind searches of {gamma}-ray data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope. The second, Sample R, contains pulsars detectable in blind radio searches which have spin-down luminosities E>10{sup 34} erg s{sup -1}. We analyze the fraction of the {gamma}-ray-selected Sample G which have detectable radio pulses and the fraction of the radio-selected Sample R which have detectable {gamma}-ray pulses. Twenty of our 35 Sample G pulsars have already observed radio pulses. This rules out low-altitude polar-cap beaming models if, as is currently believed, {gamma}-ray beams are generated in the outer magnetosphere and are very wide. We further find that, for the highest-E pulsars, the radio and {gamma}-ray beams have comparable beaming factors, i.e., the beams cover similar regions of the sky as the star rotates. For lower-E {gamma}-ray emitting pulsars, the radio beams have about half of the {gamma}-ray sky coverage. These results suggest that, for high-E young and MSPs, the radio emission originates in wide beams from regions high in the pulsar magnetosphere, probably close to the null-charge surface and to the {gamma}-ray emitting regions. Furthermore, it suggests that for these high-E pulsars, as in the {gamma}-ray case, features in the radio profile represent caustics in the emission beam pattern.
- OSTI ID:
- 21451095
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 716, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/716/1/L85; ISSN 2041-8205
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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