# The Period-Width relationship for radio pulsars revisited

## TL;DR

This paper revisits the relationship between pulsar period and emission width, showing that profile width scales with period, emission occurs at low heights, and the magnetic inclination angle decreases over time.

## Contribution

It provides an updated analysis of the period-width relationship using a large pulsar database, revealing new insights into emission heights and magnetic axis evolution.

## Key findings

- Profile width scales as P^-0.3 with large scatter
- Emission occurs below 400 km altitude
- Magnetic inclination angle decreases over pulsar lifetime

## Abstract

In the standard picture of radio pulsars, the radio emission arises from a set of open magnetic field lines, the extent of which is primarily determined by the pulsar's spin period, P, and the emission height. We have used a database of parameters from 600 pulsars to show that the observed profile width, W, follows W proportional to P^-0.3 albeit with a large scatter, emission occurs from heights below 400 km and that the beam is underfilled. Furthermore, the prevalence in the data for long period pulsars to have relatively wide profiles can only be explained if the angle between the magnetic and rotation axis decays with time.