The Effects of Geometrical Factors on Pulsar Rotation Parameters

This paper presents a detailed investigation of the effects of geometrical factors on pulsar rotation parameters, for examples the Earth rotation parameter, precession-nutation model, pulsar velocity and acceleration relative to the solar system barycenter (SSB), and planetary ephemeris error. The relations of these factors with the pulsar rotation parameters are derived, and the magnitudes of the effects of these factors are estimated, assuming that pulsars have typical parameter values. The effects of the Earth rotation parameter and precession-nutation model are negligible at the current accuracy level of observation. As the effect of the planetary ephemeris error on the pulsar rotation parameters is much less than the rotation parameters themselves, so it is also negligible. The effect of pulsar radial velocity relative to the SSB is 4 orders of magnitude less than the pulsar period. However, the effects of the pulsar transverse velocity and radial acceleration on the period derivative are not ignorable, especially for millisecond pulsars, where they may dominate the observed value of period derivative.