TY - JOUR
T1 - Pulsar magnetic alignment and the pulsewidth-age relation
AU - Young, Matthew
AU - Chan, Lee
AU - Burman, Ron
AU - Blair, David
PY - 2010
Y1 - 2010
N2 - Using pulsewidth data for 872 isolated radio pulsars, we test the hypothesis that pulsars evolve through a progressive narrowing of the emission cone combined with progressive alignment of the spin and magnetic axes. The new data provide strong evidence for the alignment over a time-scale of about 1Myr with a log standard deviation of around 0.8 across the observed population. This time-scale is shorter than the time-scale of about 10Myr found by previous authors, but the log standard deviation is larger. The results are inconsistent with models based on magnetic field decay alone or monotonic counter-alignment to orthogonal rotation. The best fits are obtained for a braking index parameter, nγ ~ 2.3, consistent with the mean of the six measured values, but based on a much larger sample of young pulsars. The least-squares fitted models are used to predict the mean inclination angle between the spin and magnetic axes as a function of log characteristic age. Comparing these predictions to existing estimates, it is found that the model in which pulsars are born with a random angle of inclination gives the best fit to the data. Plots of the mean beaming fraction as a function of characteristic age are presented using the best-fitting model parameters.
AB - Using pulsewidth data for 872 isolated radio pulsars, we test the hypothesis that pulsars evolve through a progressive narrowing of the emission cone combined with progressive alignment of the spin and magnetic axes. The new data provide strong evidence for the alignment over a time-scale of about 1Myr with a log standard deviation of around 0.8 across the observed population. This time-scale is shorter than the time-scale of about 10Myr found by previous authors, but the log standard deviation is larger. The results are inconsistent with models based on magnetic field decay alone or monotonic counter-alignment to orthogonal rotation. The best fits are obtained for a braking index parameter, nγ ~ 2.3, consistent with the mean of the six measured values, but based on a much larger sample of young pulsars. The least-squares fitted models are used to predict the mean inclination angle between the spin and magnetic axes as a function of log characteristic age. Comparing these predictions to existing estimates, it is found that the model in which pulsars are born with a random angle of inclination gives the best fit to the data. Plots of the mean beaming fraction as a function of characteristic age are presented using the best-fitting model parameters.
U2 - 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.15972.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.15972.x
M3 - Article
VL - 402
SP - 1317
EP - 1329
JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
SN - 0035-8711
IS - 2
ER -