Mandel, I and Igoshev, A orcid.org/0000-0003-2145-1022 (2023) The impact of spin-kick alignment on the inferred velocity distribution of isolated pulsars. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 944 (2). 153. ISSN 0004-637X
Abstract
The speeds of young isolated pulsars are generally inferred from their observed 2D velocities on the plane of the sky under the assumption that the unobserved radial velocity is not special, i.e., that the measured 2D velocity is an isotropic projection of the full 3D velocity. However, if pulsar spins are preferentially aligned with kicks, then the observer's viewing angle relative to the pulsar velocity vector is in fact special because the direction of the spin impacts the detectability of the pulsar. This means that the measured 2D velocity of observable pulsars is not an isotropic projection, which affects inference on 3D velocities. We estimate this effect and conclude that it could lead to a ∼15% systematic overestimate of neutron-star natal kicks if young pulsars have high obliquity angles and narrow beams, but the exact correction factor depends on the distribution of beam-spin and spin-kick misalignment angles and beam widths.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2023. The Author(s). Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Mathematics (Leeds) > Applied Mathematics (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 20 Jan 2023 11:50 |
Last Modified: | 26 Jul 2023 13:32 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | IOP |
Identification Number: | 10.3847/1538-4357/acb3c3 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:195400 |