We investigate whether gamma-ray pulsars viewed at a large angle to the
neutron star magnetic pole could contribute to the new population of galactic
unidentified EGRET sources associated with the Gould Belt. The faint, soft
nature of these sources is distinctly different from both the properties of
unidentified EGRET sources along the galactic plane and of the known gamma-ray
pulsars. We explore the possibility, within the polar cap model, that some of
these sources are emission from pulsars seen at lines of sight that miss both
the bright gamma-ray cone beams and the radio beam. The off-beam gamma-rays
come from high-altitude curvature emission of primary particles, are radiated
over a large solid angle and have a much softer spectrum than that of the main
beams. We estimate that the detectability of such off-beam emission is about a
factor of 4-5 higher than that of the on-beam emission. At least some of the
radio-quiet Gould Belt sources detected by EGRET could therefore be such
off-beam gamma-ray pulsars. GLAST should be able to detect pulsations in most
of these sources.Comment: 5 pages, uses emulateapj.sty, accepted for publication in ApJ Letter