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Pulsar Polarization

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 August 2015

D. C. Backer
D. C. Backer*
Affiliation:
Radio Astronomy Laboratory, Berkeley

Extract

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Over ten years ago Radhakrishnan and his coworkers in Australia detected a smooth variation of the electric vector through 90° during the brief pulses from the Vela pulsar. This observation led to the hypothesis that pulsar radiation is beamed along a magnetic pole. While subsequent observations gave ample support to this model, we find that less than half of the pulsars have average profiles which are consistent with the magnetic pole hypothesis. Statistical analyses of individual pulse polarization data now reveal that the average profiles obscure the basic nature of linear polarization in pulsars: two orthogonal modes are typically present, and individually these modes agree with the magnetic pole model. We explain the occurrence of orthogonal modes by a simple geometry for the polarized subpulse beam in relation to the magnetic axis. Theoretical models for subpulse polarization invoke both a combination of emission mechanism effects and propagation effects. We conclude with directions for further research.

Type
III. Radio Observations of Pulsars
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 95: Pulsars , 1981 , pp. 163 - 169
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1981 

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