Type

Article

Abstract

We study the observable pulse profiles that can be generated from precessing pulsars. A novel coordinate system is defined to aid visualization of the observing geometry. Using this system we explore the different families of profiles that can be generated by simple, circularly symmetric beam shapes. An attempt is then made to fit our model to the observations of relativistic binary PSR B1913+16. It is found that while qualitatively similar pulse profiles can be produced, this minimal model is insufficient for an accurate match to the observational data. Consequently, we confirm that the emission beam of PSR B1913+16 must deviate from circular symmetry, as first reported by Weisberg & Taylor (2002). However, the approximate fits obtained suggest that it may be sufficient to consider only minimal deviations from a circular beam in order to explain the data. We also comment on the applicability of our analysis technique to other precessing pulsars, both binary and isolated.

Language

English

Department(s)

Physics and Astronomy

Journal or Book Title

Astrophysical Journal

Publication Year

2008

DOI

10.1086/587049 10.1063/1.2900136

Publisher

Science and Mathematics

Rights Management

Carleton College does not own the copyright to this work and the work is available through the Carleton College Library following the original publisher policies regarding self-archiving. For more information on the copyright status of this work, refer to the current copyright holder.

RoMEO Color

Green

Preprint Archiving

Yes

Postprint Archiving

Yes

Publisher PDF Archiving

Yes

Contributing Organization

Carleton College

Format

application/pdf

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Included in

Physics Commons

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