The shape of pulsar radio beams

Using all available multi-component radio pulse profiles for pulsars with medium to long periods and good polarisation data, we have constructed a two-dimensional image of the mean radio beamshape. This shows a peak near the centre of the beam but is otherwise relatively uniform with only mild enhancements in a few regions. This result supports the patchy-beam model for emission beams in which the mean beam shape represents the properties of the emission mechanism and observed pulse components result from emission sources distributed randomly across the beam.