Abstract We present a census of 100 pulsars, the largest below 100 MHz, including 94 normal pulsars and six millisecond pulsars, with the Long Wavelength Array (LWA). Pulse profiles are detected across a range of frequencies from 26–88 MHz, including new narrowband profiles facilitating profile evolution studies, and breaks in pulsar spectra at low frequencies. We report mean flux density, spectral index, curvature, and low-frequency turnover-frequency measurements for 97 pulsars, including new measurements for 61 sources. Multifrequency profile widths are presented for all pulsars, including component spacing for 27 pulsars with two components. Polarized emission is detected from 27 of the sources (the largest sample at these frequencies) in multiple frequency bands, with one new detection. We also provide new timing solutions for five recently discovered pulsars. Low-frequency observations with the LWA are especially sensitive to propagation effects arising in the interstellar medium. We have made the most sensitive measurements of pulsar dispersion measures (DMs) and rotation measures, with median uncertainties of 2.9 × 10−4pc cm−3and 0.01 rad m−2, respectively, and can track their variations over almost a decade, along with other frequency-dependent effects. This allows for stringent limits on average magnetic fields, with no variations detected above ∼20 nG. Finally, the census yields some interesting phenomena in individual sources, including the detection of frequency- and time-dependent DM variations in B2217+47, and the detection of highly circularly polarized emission from J0051+0423.
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Detecting pulsar polarization below 100 MHz with the Long Wavelength Array
ABSTRACT Using the first station of the Long Wavelength Array (LWA1), we examine polarized pulsar emission between 25 and 88 MHz. Polarized light from pulsars undergoes Faraday rotation as it passes through the magnetized interstellar medium. Observations from low-frequency telescopes are ideal for obtaining precise rotation measures (RMs) because the effect of Faraday rotation is proportional to the square of the observing wavelength. With these RMs, we obtained polarized pulse profiles to see how polarization changes in the 25–88 MHz range. The RMs were also used to derive values for the electron-density-weighted average Galactic magnetic field along the line of sight. We present RMs and polarization profiles of 15 pulsars acquired using data from LWA1. These results provide new insight into low-frequency polarization characteristics and pulsar emission heights, and complement measurements at higher frequencies.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1835400
- PAR ID:
- 10180709
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Volume:
- 496
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 0035-8711
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 3623 to 3634
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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