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Paper: Determining Motions and Birthplaces of Pulsars through VLBI Astrometry
Volume: 144, Radio Emission from Galactic and Extragalactic Compact Sources, IAU Colloquium 164
Page: 391
Authors: Galama, T. J.; van Paradijs, J.; van den Heuvel, E. P. J.; de Bruyn, A. G.; Campbell, R. M.; Vermeulen, R. C.; Lestrade, J.-F.; Verbunt, F.; Schilizzi, R. T.
Abstract: We present first results of global VLBI astrometric pulsar parallax and proper motion measurements (phase-reference). The aim is to obtain information on pulsar motions and pulsar birthplaces. Proper motions could provide answers to questions like: How large are pulsar velocities at birth? How are these velocities produced and what is the final galactic pulsar distribution? Identification of birthplaces (with, \eg, an OB-association) provides information on the pulsar progenitor population (the fraction of pulsars born in binaries; the mass range of the progenitors etc.). We have a first epoch on three pulsars, selected on the basis of age (young < 3 Myr), flux density (relatively strong) and presence in the solar neighborhood (d < 3 kpc). Gating increases the SNR by typically a factor of 5.
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