Gamma-ray Pulsar Emission is Mostly Stable on Timescales from Minutes to Years

Abstract

We present a method for the detection and characterization of random changes in the flux from $\gamma$-ray pulsars on sub-hour timescales, much shorter than variations that can be accessed using direct flux measurements. Flux variations are a proxy for the variations in spindown power ($\dot{E}$) or particle acceleration, which can be produced by random switches between quasi-stable configurations of the pulsar magnetosphere. This technique therefore probes the stability of pulsar magnetospheres and discrete spindown states on timescales much shorter than can be achieved with pulsar timing. We apply the method to a sample of 115 bright $\gamma$-ray pulsars, finding no new instances of state changes. We derive the sensitivity of the method and find that, for a wide range of possible state changing models, over a wide range of timescales, we can limit the amplitude of flux ($\dot{E}$) variations to $<$10%. Substantial nulling is excluded in nearly all cases. The best cases limit variations of any sort to $\le$1%. These results indicate that $\gamma$-ray pulsar magnetospheres maintain a single configuration or narrow range of configurations with nearly constant power output.

14 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal

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