Relativistic beaming of the pulsar emission

It is shown that relativistic beaming is a feature of the radiation from all quasi-steady pulsar magnetospheres, irrespective of whether or not such magnetospheres contain a corotating zone. This stems from the fact that the source distribution in a quasi-steady magnetosphere has a rotating pattern and as such predominantly radiates into a beam whose width in the longitude reflects the azimuthal distribution of the emissivity of the charges and currents in the vicinity of the light cylinder. (author)