Giant Pulses from the Millisecond Pulsar B1821−24

Abstract

We have carried out a survey for ``giant pulses'' in five millisecond pulsars. We detect individual pulses from the high-E pulsar B1821-24 with energies exceeding 50 times the mean pulse energy. These giant pulses are concentrated in a narrow phase window coincident with the power-law nonthermal pulse seen in hard X-rays. This is the third example of the giant-pulse phenomenon. It supports the idea that large B-fields in the outer magnetosphere are critical to the formation of such pulses and further suggests a direct connection between giant pulses and high-energy emission.