Physics of Neutron Stars – 2008
1
On the energy distribution of single pulses from
radio pulsars
A. V. Bilous
1
,
2
∗
, M. V. Popov
2
, O. M. Ulyanov
3
1
Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Moscow, Russia
2
Astro Space Center of Lebedev Physical Institute, Moscow, Russia
3
Institute of Radio Astronomy of NAS of Ukraine, Kharkiv, Ukraine
In this work we have studied two phenomena of short abrupt increase of pulsar
radio emission – Giant Pulses (GPs) and Abnormally Intensive Pulses (AIPs). Both of
them are quite rare phenomena – so far they are known only for a handful of pulsars.
GPs were being detected in the range from 23 MHz to 15 GHz
†
and consist of the
series of very short, bright and highly polarized bursts. AIPs were discovered recently
[1] at decimeter wavelengths, and, similar to GPs, they are narrower and much more
brighter than the average profile of radio emission.
Our efforts were concentrated to determine the energy distribution of single pulses.
It is known that GP energies are distributed by the power law, with the exponent
depending on the pulsar, observed frequency and range of pulses widths [2]. The
exponent typically varies from −0
.9 to −3.2 for the cumulative distribution.
In this
work, the energy distribution of GPs from the Crab pulsar at 600 and 1650 MHz were
studied with respect to their widths for the first time. The energy distribution of AIPs
was obtained using the data of B0809+74 at 23 MHz. We compared the distributions
of GPs and AIPs to the appropriate distribution of regular pulses. Other statistical
properties of both GPs and AIPs are also discussed. The results can be used to set the
constrains on the theories of pulsar radio emission.
References
[1] O. M. Ulyanov, V. V. Zaharenko, A. A. Konovalenko et.al. The discovery of single
pulses from pulsars 0809+74; 0834+06; 0943+10; 0950+08; 1133+16 at decimeter
wavelengths. Radiofizika i Radioastronomiya, vol.11, # 2, pp. 113-133 (2006).
[2] M. V. Popov, B. Stappers. Statistical properties of giant pulses from the Crab
pulsar. A & A 470, 1003–1007 (2007).
∗
E-mail: hanna.bilous@gmail.com
†
For example, see the results of our recent multifrequency observational campaign of the Crab
pulsar at http://dunbar.phys.wvu.edu/∼vlad/projects/crab2007/