An empirical model for the polarization of pulsar radio emission

Abstract

We present an empirical model for single pulses of radio emission from pulsars based on gaussian probability distributions for relevant variables. The radiation at a specific pulse phase is represented as the superposition of radiation in two (approximately) orthogonally polarized modes (OPMs) from one or more subsources in the emission region of the pulsar. For each subsource, the polarization states are drawn randomly from statistical distributions, with the mean and the variance on the Poincaré sphere as free parameters. The intensity of one OPM is chosen from a log-normal distribution, and the intensity of the other OPM is assumed to be partially correlated, with the degree of correlation also chosen from a gaussian distribution. The model is used to construct simulated data described in the same format as real data: distributions of the polarization of pulses on the Poincaré sphere and histograms of the intensity and other parameters. We concentrate on the interpretation of data for specific phases of PSR B0329+54 for which the OPMs are not orthogonal, with one well defined and the other spread out around an annulus on the Poincaré sphere at some phases. The results support the assumption that the radiation emerges in two OPMs with closely correlated intensities, and that in a statistical fraction of pulses one OPM is invisible.

10 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

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• Timing, polarimetry and physics of the bright, nearby millisecond pulsar PSR J0437-4715 - a single-pulse perspective
• Observations of pulsars at 9 millimetres
• Statistics of the individual-pulse polarization based on propagation effects in pulsar magnetosphere
• MWA Tied-Array Processing II: Polarimetric Verification and Analysis of two Bright Southern Pulsars
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• Circular polarization in radio pulsar PSR B1451-68: coherent mode transitions and intrabeam interference
• Radio pulsar polarization as a coherent sum of orthogonal proper mode waves
• The drifting subpulses of PSR B0031-07 and its synchronously modulated radio polarization
• A model for distortions of polarisation-angle curves in radio pulsars
• Radio-frequency microstructure and polarization in ion-proton pulsars
• Pulsars as Fantastic Objects and Probes
• Polarization Patterns in Pulsar Radio Emission
• Triple trouble with PSR J1618-3921: Mass measurements and orbital dynamics of an eccentric millisecond pulsar