A CRITICAL-EVALUATION OF PULSAR DISTANCE MEASUREMENTS

We critically evaluate all pulsar distance measurements in the literature. There are 73 pulsar distances; 50 of these are kinematic distances, three are parallax distances, and 20 are association distances. We critically review the distance determination methods and the observations, commenting on the limitations of and errors inherent in each. For the kinematic distance method we define a strict set of criteria for determining upper and lower distance limits. These are then consistently applied for all pulsars toward which neutral hydrogen absorption spectra have been measured. Distances to pulsars in associations are determined with the best available methods and inconsistent parallax measurements are examined. The final result is a complete list of our adopted distances or distance limits to 73 pulsars. The remaining pulsars with earlier distance determinations are also tabulated with some explanation as to why we are unable to assign a distance.