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Pulsars as a galactic population

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 August 2015

Joseph H. Taylor
Joseph H. Taylor*
Affiliation:
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts

Extract

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Recent pulsar surveys have increased the number of known pulsars to well over 300, and many of them lie at distances of several kpc or more from the sun. The distribution of pulsars with respect to distance from the galactic center is similar to other population I material such as HII regions, supernova remnants, and carbon monoxide gas, but the disk thickness of the pulsar distribution is rather greater, with <|z|>≈350 pc. Statistical analysis suggests that the total number of active pulsars in the Galaxy is a half million or more, and because kinematic arguments require the active lifetimes of pulsars to be ≲5×106 years, it follows that the birthrate required to maintain the observed population is one pulsar every ∼10 years (or less) in the Galaxy.

Type
II. THE DISK COMPONENT
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 84: The Large-Scale Characteristics of the Galaxy , 1979 , pp. 119 - 123
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1979 

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