Azimuthally-structured radio beams of pulsars

25 Mar 2014, 16:15
15m

Speaker

Dr Jaroslaw Dyks (Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center)

Description

There is a growing evidence that radio beams of some pulsars are azimuthally-structured. When viewed down the dipole axis, the beam resembles spokes in a wheel, with narrow emission stripes spreading away from the dipole axis. I will present objects for which the spoke-like model describes their profiles more successfully than the traditional conal geometry. Further from the dipole axis, the stripes do not widen as would be expected for a structure limited by lines of fixed magnetic azimuth. Hence the mathematical formulae that describe the beam do not result from a simple projection of dipolar field lines on the sky. With the ambiguity of pulsar geometry determination through the gamma-ray- or polarisation-based methods, the task is hindered by the unknown radio beam geometry, and the conal interpretation of profiles can be misleading.

Primary author

Dr Jaroslaw Dyks (Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center)

Presentation materials