Dependence of pulsar characteristics on the space-time metric.

The general relativistic effects on the pulse shapes, arrival times of pulses, and brightness temperatures of fast pulsars are investigated. The Kerr metric is employed for this purpose and the results are compared with those of Kapoor and Datta (1985, 1986), who used the rotationally perturbed spherical metric derived by Hartle and Thorne (1968). It is found that generally the results of Kapoor and Datta need very little modification. However, a difference in the values of deflection angles is found that is due to a different interpretation. More importantly, it is found that the width of the pulse increases, if emitted close to the surface, but decreases, if emitted from further away. This has an important bearing on the estimate of brightness temperatures from observed widths (and related intensity) of the pulsars. 11 references.