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Old 13-February-2004, 10:37 PM
lpetrich lpetrich is offline
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Possibly not very much. The pulsars are very far apart compared to their sizes (800,000 km vs. ~12 km). So if their emissions are localized to near their magnetic pole - surface intersection points, as the "polar cap" theoretical models indicate, then they would get very dilute by they time they got to the other pulsar.

More seriously, however, is the speed-of-light corotation distance: c/(angular frequency) --

A ("Ernie") - 1100 km
B ("Bert") - 132,000 km

This may be why A seems to influence B's luminosity; A is close to B's "near zone", where the field approximates a spinning magnetic field and not outward-going electromagnetic waves.
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