Toward an Empirical Theory of Pulsar Emission - Part Two - on the Spectral Behavior of Component Width

The frequency dependence of pulsar average profiles has received no systematic study. While some work has been done on the spacing of double profiles, other species have received little attention, largely for lack of a formal profile model. This paper provides the beginnings of such a study, based on the morphological classification proposed in the first paper in this series. The "absorption features" first identified by Bartel in 0809+74 are found in virtually every core component, conal-single, or barely resolved double profile investigated. These features aside, however, the residual frequency dependence of pulse width seems to be accurately power-law. Surprisingly, well-resolved double profiles behave very differently: they exhibit no hint of "absorption" features, and their scales, that is, widths or component spacings, apparently increase more continuously than the two-power-law model in terms of which they have usually been described. Pulsar 0823+26 exhibits a unique behavior and is discussed as a possible "one-sided- double" profile.