Population Synthesis of Radio and Gamma-ray Millisecond Pulsars from the Galactic Plane

We present results of a population synthesis of millisecond pulsars in the Galactic plane. Excluding globular clusters, we model the spatial distribution of millisecond pulsars by assuming they are born in the Galactic disk with a random kick velocity and evolve them to the present within the Galactic potential. We assume that ordinary and millisecond pulsars are standard candles described with a common radio emission model invoking a new relationship between radio core and cone emission suggested by recent studies. In modeling the radio emission beams, we explore the relativistic effects of time delay, aberration and sweepback of the open field lines. While these effects are essential in understanding pulse profiles, the phase-averaged flux is adequately described without a relativistic model. We use a polar cap acceleration model for the gamma-ray emission. We present the preliminary results of our recent study and the implications for observing millisecond pulsars with GLAST and AGILE.

We express our gratitude for the generous support of the National Science Foundation (REU and AST-0307365), the Michigan Space Grant Consortium and the NASA Astrophysics Theory Program.