A pulsar's sweeping beam.
Why does a pulsar seem to blink?
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Why does a pulsar seem to blink?
Fit the spinning star and receiver, then align the observer.
A rotating neutron star can send beams along an axis tilted relative to its spin axis. The star is not switching off between pulses. An observer sees a pulse when a beam sweeps through their line of sight, like a lighthouse. Some observer directions miss both beams, while other geometries can see two pulses per rotation.
Two opposite ideal conical beams, a fixed spin axis and a fixed observer. No magnetic-field evolution, cooling, relativistic beaming or energy-budget model. Motion is slowed by 0.2; physical pulse frequency remains in Hz.
Receive distinct pulses instead of continuous light or no signal.
Find when the rotating beam reaches the observer.