Monitoring Millisecond Pulsars in Full Polarization

Abstract

Over a two year period the polarization properties of the largest sample of millisecond pulsars yet observed have been regularly monitored with the Effelsberg 100-m radiotelescope at λ21cm. A comparison of the observed emission properties with those of the population of long period pulsars is presented here. Most of the sources exhibit wide, often multiple-component profiles, with complex polarization features, not easily interpretable in the context of the well established phenomenological models used to describe the properties of long period pulsars. While both groups share common emission features suggesting similar emission processes, the implied field structures as revealed from polarization information appear substantially different from a dipolar structure. Generally, short period pulsars exhibit a relatively large percentage of circularly polarized emission while at λ21cm they tend to be less polarized than long period pulsars.