Role of time resolution on polarization of pulsar radiation

Abstract

The role of orthogonal polarization modes in pulsar emission is re-examined in view of polarization data of high time resolution. Individual pulse data of PSR B1133+16 at 1.41 GHz, obtained with time resolutions of 1160, 500 and 150 mu s, were statistically analyzed and the results are presented as probability of occurrence gray-scale maps. Orthogonal modes are recognized in all three data sets, however, they appear better separated in the high resolution data set. Our analysis indicates that the occurrence of these modes is affected by the time resolution of the observation. In the high resolution data, where the modes are better separated, the emission appears highly polarized. We find that the linear polarization becomes higher when the circular polarization is at minimum, an observation which is in agreement with the predictions of curvature emission.