A statistical model for the orthogonal model of polarization in pulsar radio emission

摘要

The radio emission from pulsars is modeled as the simultaneous interaction of two models of orthog- onally polarized radiation. Both modes are assumed to be completely linearly polarized, and the flux densities of the models are represented by random variables to account for the random switching between orthogonally polarized states. Example distributions of total intensity, linear polarization, frac- tional linear polarization, and polarization position angle are computed with both analytical and numerical versions of the model. The model is compared to polarization observations of individual pulses from PSR B2020+28.