4-8 July 2016
Kramer Law building
Africa/Johannesburg timezone
<a href="http://events.saip.org.za/internalPage.py?pageId=10&confId=86">The Proceedings of SAIP2016</a> published on 24 December 2017

Calibration of a statistical method used to constrain pulsar geometries via light curve modelling

6 Jul 2016, 16:10
1h 50m
Kramer Law building

Kramer Law building

UCT Middle Campus Cape Town
Board: D1.391
Poster Presentation Track D1 - Astrophysics Poster Session (2)

Speaker

Mr Tiaan Bezuidenhout (NWU)

Level for award<br>&nbsp;(Hons, MSc, <br> &nbsp; PhD, N/A)?

Hons

Main supervisor (name and email)<br>and his / her institution

Prof C. Venter
christo.venter@nwu.ac.za
North-West University

Would you like to <br> submit a short paper <br> for the Conference <br> Proceedings (Yes / No)?

Yes

Abstract content <br> &nbsp; (Max 300 words)<br><a href="http://events.saip.org.za/getFile.py/access?resId=0&materialId=0&confId=34" target="_blank">Formatting &<br>Special chars</a>

Since its launch in 2008, the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) has detected over 200 gamma-ray pulsars above 100 MeV. This population of pulsars is characterised by a rich diversity of light curve morphologies. Researchers have been using both the radio and gamma-ray light curves to constrain the inclination and observer angles of each of these pulsars. At first, this was done using an "eyeball" technique and later on via statistical approaches. We have also been developing a novel statistical approach that places the radio and gamma-ray data on equal footing despite their disparate flux errors. We chose a dozen pulsars from the Second Fermi Pulsar Catalog, both old and young, and applied this new technique as well as the "eyeball" technique to constrain their geometric parameters. We will present first results on our comparison of the best-fit parameters yielded by each of the aforementioned techniques. This will assist us in determining the utility of our new statistical approach, and gauge the overlap of the best-fit parameters (plus errors) from each of the different methods. This technique will provide the means for further pulsar magnetospheric model development using light curve data.

Apply to be<br> considered for a student <br> &nbsp; award (Yes / No)?

Yes

Please indicate whether<br>this abstract may be<br>published online<br>(Yes / No)

Yes

Primary author

Co-authors

Mr Albertus Seyffert (Centre for Space Research, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2520 Potchefstroom, South Africa) Dr Alice K. Harding (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center) Prof. Christo Venter (North-west University, Potchefstroom Campus)

Presentation Materials

Peer reviewing

Paper