Observational constraints on pulsars: Location of the emission region and pulse shape stability on decade time scales

Miscellaneous · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1991

OSTI ID:5225365

Blaskiewicz, M M

Twenty years after their discovery, many basic problems in pulsar physics remain unsolved. Plasma flow patterns along with the associated radio emission and energy loss mechanisms remain a mystery. The dynamical behavior of the neutron star spin rate has been explored via timing analyses but the presence of precession or wandering of the spin axis remain largely unconstrained. The possibility of surface activity such as plate tectonics or volcanism remains open. Observational limits are placed on these phenomena. An introduction is given to pulsars, with an emphasis on the aspects relevant to the remainder of the thesis. The implications of polar cap models are explored within the context of special relativity. Under fairly general conditions, it is found that the suppositions of polar cap models imply a time delay between the centroids of the intensity waveform and the polarization profile with the polarization profile lagging the intensity waveform.

• Research Organization: Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States)
• OSTI ID: 5225365
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Thesis (Ph.D.)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
PULSARS
ENERGY LOSSES
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
RADIOWAVE RADIATION
FLUID FLOW
PRECESSION
THEORETICAL DATA
VOLCANOES
COSMIC RADIO SOURCES
DATA
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
FLUID MECHANICS
HYDRODYNAMICS
INFORMATION
LOSSES
MECHANICS
NUMERICAL DATA
RADIATIONS
640102* - Astrophysics & Cosmology- Stars & Quasi-Stellar
Radio & X-Ray Sources