Luminosity distribution and total space density of pulsars

A preliminary analysis has been made of the flux and distance distributions of the Hulse-Taylor sample of pulsars. The existence of a spatial boundary to the sample makes it possible to determine the differential distribution of luminosities phi (L) from the observed fluxes, essentially independent of the details of the spatial distribution. In contrast, the distribution of observed distances is very sensitive to the scale height z/subp/ of pulsars. It is found that phi (L) =phi0L-1.7/sup plus-or-minus/0/sup .3/, and that z/subp/ cannot be significantly less than 400 pc (for n/sube/=0.02). Knowledge of phi (L) enables us to estimate the total space density n of active pulsars, napprox. =30 kpc-3. For reasonable choices of the lifetimes and scale height of pulsars, the birthrate required to maintain this population is about one per few hundred years in the Galaxy