An analysis of radio pulsar nulling statistics

Abstract

Survival analysis methods are used to seek correlationsbetween the fraction of null pulsars and other pulsar characteristicsfor an ensemble of 72 radio pulsars. The strongest correlation isfound between the null fraction and the pulse period, suggestingthat nulling is a manifestation of a faltering emission mechanism.Correlations are also found between the fraction of null pulses and otherparameters that have a strong dependence on the pulse period. Theresults presented here suggest that nulling is broad-band and mayultimately be explained in terms of polar cap models of pulsar emission.