Radio Pulsar Beam Geometry at Lower Frequencies: Bright Sources Outside the Arecibo Sky

TL;DR

This study analyzes pulsar emission beam geometry at low frequencies for a full sky sample, confirming the core/double-cone model's validity and revealing distribution differences based on plasma source and spindown energy.

Contribution

It extends pulsar beam modeling to lower frequencies for a comprehensive sky sample, validating the core/double-cone model and linking emission properties to plasma sources and energy.

Findings

Pulsar beams can be modeled with two conical and one core component at 1 GHz.

Beam sizes change with frequency but configuration remains consistent.

Distribution of core and conal pulsars varies with Galactic location and energy.

Abstract

We present pulsar emission beam analyses and models in an effort to examine pulsar geometry and physics at the lowest frequencies scattering permits. We consider two populations of well-studied pulsars that lie outside the Arecibo sky, the first drawing on the Jodrell Bank Gould & Lyne survey down to -35{\deg} declination and a second using Parkes surveys in the far south. These assemble the full sky population of 487 pulsars known before the late 1990s which conveniently all have "B" names. We make full use of the core/double-cone emission beam model to assess its efficacy at lower frequencies, and we outline how different pair plasma sources probably underlie its validity. The analysis shows that with a very few exceptions pulsar radio emission beams can be modeled quantitatively with two concentric conal beams and a core beam of regular angular dimensions at 1 GHz. Further, the beamforms at lower frequencies change progressively in size but not in configuration. Pulsar emission-beam properties divide strongly depending on whether the plasma excitation is central within the polar fluxtube producing a core beam or peripheral along the edges generating conal beams, and this seems largely determined by whether their spindown energy is greater or less than about 10$^{32.5}$ ergs/s. Core emission dominated pulsars tend concentrate closely along the Galactic plane and in the direction of the Galactic center; whereas conal pulsars are somewhat more uniformly distributed both in Galactic longitude and latitude. Core dominated pulsars also tend to be more distant and particularly so in the inner Galaxy region.