← Back to High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
astro-ph.HE

Why do giant pulses from this pulsar occur in only two spots?

Sergei L. Kurdubov, Dmitry A. Marshalov

May 20, 2026

PSR B0355+54 occasionally unleashes radio bursts 150 times brighter than its average pulse, but only from two narrow regions of its rotation. Using nearly 8 hours of observation, researchers found 432 of these giant pulses and mapped their locations with microsecond precision, discovering the two emission zones prefer opposite circular polarizations. This localization hints at separate magnetic structures producing giant pulses, constraining how pulsar magnetospheres organize their radio emission.
Published as The giant pulse population of PSR B0355+54 arXiv:2605.21469
Read the original paper →