On the pulse-width statistics in radio pulsars. II. Importance of the core profile components

Krzysztof Maciesiak, Janusz Gil

Published 2011-07-01, updated 2011-07-07Version 2

We performed a statistical analysis of half-power pulse-widths of the core components in average pulsar profiles. We confirmed an existence of the lower bound of the distribution of half-power pulse-width versus the pulsar period W50~2.45deg P^(-0.5) found by Rankin (1990). Using our much larger database we found W50= (2.51 +/- 0.08)deg P^(-0.50 +/-0.02) for 21 pulsars with double-pole interpulses for which measurement of the core component width was possible. On the other hand, all single-pole interpulse cases lie in the swarm of pulsars above the boundary line. Using the Monte Carlo simulations based on exact geometrical calculations we found that the Rankin's method of estimation of the inclination angle alpha ~ asin(2.45deg P^(-0.5)/W50) in pulsars with core components is quite good an approximation, except for very small angles alpha in almost aligned rotators.