Paper: astro-ph/0605201
Date: Mon, 8 May 2006 16:26:52 GMT (96kb)

Title: Statistics of the drifting subpulse phenomenon

Authors: P. Weltevrede, R.T. Edwards, B.W. Stappers

Comments: 6 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Chin. J. Astron. Astrophys,
proceedings of 2005 Lake Hanas International Pulsar Symposium
\\
We present the statistical results of a systematic, unbiased search for
subpulse modulation of 187 pulsars performed with the Westerbork Synthesis
Radio Telescope (WSRT) in the Netherlands at an observing wavelength of 21 cm
(Weltevrede et al. 2006). We have increased the list of pulsars that show the
drifting subpulse phenomenon by 42, indicating that more than 55% of the
pulsars show this phenomenon. The large number of new drifters we have found
allows us, for the first time, to do meaningful statistics on the drifting
phenomenon. We find that the drifting phenomenon is correlated with the pulsar
age such that drifting is more likely to occur in older pulsars. Pulsars that
drift more coherently seem to be older and have a lower modulation index.
Contrary claims from older studies, both P3 (the repetition period of the
drifting subpulse pattern) and the drift direction are found to be uncorrelated
with other pulsar parameters.

\\ ( http://arXiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0605201 , 96kb)