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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 April 2016
The recent shift of opinion concerning the distribution of pulsar velocities at birth with a mean value of 400-500 km/s has several ramifications for our understanding of the origin and evolution of pulsars. From the present data, there is no convincing evidence for a causal correlation between velocity and magnetic field, any magnetic field evolution in neutron stars or that galactic neutron stars once active as radio pulsars are the sources of γ-ray bursts. Asymmetric kicks seem the most plausible origin for the high velocities.