Thousand-Pulsar-Array programme on MeerKAT – VI. Pulse widths of a large and diverse sample of radio pulsars.

We present pulse width measurements for a sample of radio pulsars observed with the MeerKAT telescope as part of the Thousand-Pulsar-Array (TPA) programme in the MeerTime project. For a centre frequency of 1284 MHz, we obtain 762 W ₁₀ measurements across the total bandwidth of 775 MHz, where W ₁₀ is the width at the 10 per cent level of the pulse peak. We also measure about 400 W ₁₀ values in each of the four or eight frequency sub-bands. Assuming, the width is a function of the rotation period P , this relationship can be described with a power law with power law index μ = −0.29 ± 0.03. However, using orthogonal distance regression, we determine a steeper power law with μ = −0.63 ± 0.06. A density plot of the period-width data reveals such a fit to align well with the contours of highest density. Building on a previous population synthesis model, we obtain population-based estimates of the obliquity of the magnetic axis with respect to the rotation axis for our pulsars. Investigating the width changes over frequency, we unambiguously identify a group of pulsars that have width broadening at higher frequencies. The measured width changes show a monotonic behaviour with frequency for the whole TPA pulsar population, whether the pulses are becoming narrower or broader with increasing frequency. We exclude a sensitivity bias, scattering and noticeable differences in the pulse component numbers as explanations for these width changes, and attempt an explanation using a qualitative model of five contributing Gaussian pulse components with flux density spectra that depend on their rotational phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]