Parkes observations for project P594 semester 2007OCTS

In a small but very important subset of radio pulsars, we see emission from both magnetic poles, separated by half the pulse period in time. Crucially, the geometry of these `interpulse' pulsars are known; they must be orthogonal rotators and our line of sight must pass very close to the magnetic pole. Amazingly, in PSR B1702-19, Weltevrede et al. (2007) showed that the main and interpulse emission are modulated IN PHASE over periods of years, which implies that the two poles of the star somehow communicate with each other.
Theoretical models are being worked on, but so far no satisfactory communcation channel has been found. We propose to observe 3 bright, southern interpulse pulsars to determine whether this communication also happens in other objects, or whether PSR B1702-19 is a unique source.