1 research outputs found
Pulsar motions in our Galaxy
Pulsar motions in our Galaxy from their birth until 2 Gyr are studied
statistically via Monte-Carlo simulation of pulsars with the
best available representation of the Galactic potential. We find that the
distribution of height above the Galactic plane for pulsars with characteristic
ages less than about 8 Myr could be well fitted by a Gaussian function. For
older pulsars, an extra exponential function is necessary to fit the
distribution. The scale-height of the Gaussian component increases linearly
with time until about 40 Myr. The height distribution becomes stabilized after
about 200 Myr. These results are not sensitive to initial height or radial
distributions. Taking the relationship between the initial velocity and height
distribution, we found from the latest pulsar catalog that the height
distribution of pulsars younger than 1 Myr directly implies the mean initial
velocity of km s. Comparison of simulated sample of pulsars
with the current available millisecond pulsars shows that their 1D initial
velocity dispersion should be most probably km s.Comment: 11 pages, 16 figures, accepted by MNRA