2008/06/30 by J. Dyks · 62 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Electron #Formalism (music) #Light curve #Observable #Polarization (electrochemistry) #Pulsar #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Radio Astronomy Observations and Technology #Stokes parameters #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13923.x
published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 391(2), 859-868 (Oxford University Press) · 12 pages, 5 figures, accepted by MNRAS after minor changes
arxiv created 2008/09/11 · openalex publication_date 2008/11/27 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Because of the corotation, the polarization angle (PA) curve of a pulsar lags the intensity profile by 4r/Rlc rad in pulse phase. I present a simple and short derivation of this delay-radius relation to show that it is not caused by the aberration (understood as the normal beaming effect) but purely by contribution of corotation to the electron acceleration in the observer's frame. Available altitude-dependent formulae for the PA curve are expressed through observables and emission altitude to make them immediately ready to use in radio data modelling. The analytical approximations for the altitude-dependent PA curve are compared with exact numerical results to show how they perform at large emission altitudes. I also discuss several possible explanations for the opposite-than-normal shift of PA curve, exhibited by the pedestal emission of B1929+10 and B0950+08.