A Quantitative Non-radial Oscillation Model for the Subpulses in PSR B0943+10

TL;DR

This paper applies a non-radial oscillation model to analyze PSR B0943+10's subpulses, successfully reproducing observed behaviors and revealing subtle phenomena challenging existing models.

Contribution

It extends a non-radial oscillation model to include linear polarization and demonstrates its effectiveness on PSR B0943+10, a well-studied pulsar.

Findings

Successfully fits observed subpulse behavior

Reveals subtle behaviors difficult for drifting spark models

Supports non-radial oscillation as a viable explanation

Abstract

In this paper, we analyze time series measurements of PSR B0943+10 and fit them with a non-radial oscillation model. The model we apply was first developed for total intensity measurements in an earlier paper, and expanded to encompass linear polarization in a companion paper to this one. We use PSR B0943+10 for the initial tests of our model because it has a simple geometry, it has been exhaustively studied in the literature, and its behavior is well-documented. As prelude to quantitative fitting, we have reanalyzed previously published archival data of PSR B0943+10 and uncovered subtle but significant behavior that is difficult to explain in the framework of the drifting spark model. Our fits of a non-radial oscillation model are able to successfully reproduce the observed behavior in this pulsar.