Why the distance of PSR J0218+4232 does not challenge pulsar emission theories
Abstract
Recent very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) measurements of the astrometric parameters of the millisecond pulsar J0218+4232 by Du et al. have suggested that this pulsar is as distant as 6.3 kpc. At such a large distance, the large γ-ray flux observed from this pulsar would make it the most luminous γ-ray pulsar known. This luminosity would exceed what can be explained by the outer gap and slot-gap pulsar emission models, potentially placing important and otherwise elusive constraints on the pulsar emission mechanism. We show that the VLBI parallax measurement is dominated by the Lutz-Kelker bias. When this bias is corrected for, the most likely distance for this pulsar is 3.15^{+0.85}_{-0.60} kpc. This revised distance places the luminosity of PSR J0218+4232 into a range where it does not challenge any of the standard theories of the pulsar emission mechanism.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- October 2014
- DOI:
- 10.1093/mnras/stu1560
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1408.0281
- Bibcode:
- 2014MNRAS.444.1859V
- Keywords:
-
- astrometry;
- pulsars: general;
- pulsars: individual: PSR J0218+4232;
- Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena;
- Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
- E-Print:
- 3 pages, 2 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in MNRAS