Speaker
Mr
Thomas Edwards
(GRAPPA, University of Amsterdam)
Description
Global properties of the almost one hundred millisecond pulsars (MSPs) detected in gamma-rays by the Fermi Large-Area Telescope remain relatively unknown due to multiple large uncertainties. I present here a extensive Bayesian analysis of both the spatial distribution and luminosity function simultaneously. Distance uncertainties, arising from errors in the parallax measurement or Galactic electron-density model, are marginalized over. We provide a public Python package for calculating distance uncertainties to pulsars derived using the dispersion measure by accounting for the uncertainties in Galactic electron-density model YMW16. We use multiple parameterizations for the MSP population and perform Bayesian model comparison, finding that a broken power law luminosity function with Lorimer spatial profile are preferred over multiple other parameterizations used in the past. Finally, I show how these results impact the MSP interpretation of the Galactic Centre Excess.
Primary author
Mr
Thomas Edwards
(GRAPPA, University of Amsterdam)
Co-authors
Dr
Christoph Weniger
(Postdoc)
Mr
Richard Bartels
(GRAPPA, University of Amsterdam)
