Abstract. An analysis is made of possible near-coincidences of the arrival directions of ultra high energy cosmic rays, namely those above about 10¹⁹ eV, and pulsars within 3 kpc of the Sun, the pulsar data having come from Taylor et al (1993 Astrophys. J. Suppl. 88 529). In the experiment of Mikhailov and Nikiforova (2001 Proc. 27th Int. Cosmic Ray Conf. (Hamburg) vol 1 p 417) there are interesting near-coincidences, specifically with pulsars having very high electric potential differences near the pulsar surface, and in the important world survey for energies above 4 × 10¹⁹ eV (Nagano M and Watson A A 2000 Rev. Med. Phys. 72 689), there is an intriguing excess, above chance, for spun-up pulsars.

Print publication: Issue 8 (August 2002)
Received 22 March 2002
Published 21 June 2002