Population Synthesis of Radio and Gamma-ray Pulsars in the Fermi Era

TL;DR

This paper models the population of radio and gamma-ray pulsars in the Galaxy, incorporating new birth location models and neutron star evolution scenarios, and compares simulated results with Fermi observations.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive population synthesis framework that integrates updated birth location models and neutron star evolution, providing new insights into pulsar demographics.

Findings

Simulated pulsar populations match Fermi gamma-ray detections

Different neutron star evolution models affect pulsar visibility

New birth location model improves population accuracy

Abstract

We present results of our pulsar population synthesis of normal pulsars from the Galactic disk using our previously developed computer code. On the same footing, we use slot gap and outer gap models for gamma-ray emission from normal pulsars to obtain statistics of radio-loud and radio-quiet gamma-ray pulsars. From recently improved understanding of HII and star forming regions in the Galaxy, we develop a new surface density model of the birth location of neutron stars. We explore models of neutron star evolution with magnetic field-decay, and with different initial period and magnetic field distributions. We present preliminary results including simulated population statistics that are compared with recent detections by Fermi of normal, isolated pulsars.