Are radio pulsars strange stars ?
R. C. Kapoor1 and C. S. Shukre2 1 Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Koramangala, Bangalore 560 034, India 2 Raman Research Institute, C.V. Raman Avenue, Sadashivanagar, Bangalore 560 080, India (Received 11 April 2001 / Accepted 5 June 2001 ) Abstract A remarkably precise observational relation for pulse core component widths of radio pulsars is used to derive stringent limits on pulsar radii, strongly indicating that pulsars are strange stars rather than neutron stars. This is achieved by inclusion of general relativistic effects due to the pulsar mass on the size of the emission region needed to explain the observed pulse widths, which constrain the pulsar masses to be 2.5 and radii 10.5 km. Key words: pulsars: general — dense matter — equation of state: stars : neutron Offprint request: R. C.
