More Like this

1. Radio pulsar beam geometry at lower frequencies: bright sources outside the Arecibo sky

   https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac1302  

   Rankin, Joanna (May 2022, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society)

   ABSTRACT We present pulsar emission beam analyses and models in an effort to examine pulsar geometry and physics at the lowest frequencies scattering permits. We consider two populations of well-studied pulsars that lie outside the Arecibo sky, the first drawing on the Jodrell Bank Gould & Lyne survey down to –35° declination and a second using Parkes surveys in the far south. These assemble the full sky population of 487 pulsars known before the late 1990s which conveniently all have ‘B’ names. We make full use of the core/double-cone emission beam model to assess its efficacy at lower frequencies, and we outline how different pair plasma sources probably underlie its validity. The analysis shows that with a very few exceptions pulsar radio emission beams can be modeled quantitatively with two concentric conal beams and a core beam of regular angular dimensions at 1 GHz. Further, the beamforms at lower frequencies change progressively in size but not in configuration. Pulsar emission-beam properties divide strongly depending on whether the plasma excitation is central within the polar fluxtube producing a core beam or peripheral along the edges generating conal beams, and this seems largely determined by whether their spin-down energy is greater or less than about 1032.5 ergs s−1. Core emission dominated pulsars tend concentrate closely along the Galactic plane and in the direction of the Galactic center; whereas conal pulsars are somewhat more uniformly distributed both in Galactic longitude and latitude. Core dominated pulsars also tend to be more distant and particularly so in the inner Galaxy region. 

   more » « less
2. The AO327 Drift Survey Catalog and Data Release of Pulsar Detections

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4365/ad19da  

   Deneva, J. S.; McLaughlin, M.; Olszanski, T. E. E.; Lewis, E. F.; Pang, D.; Freire, P. C. C.; Bagchi, M.; Stovall, K. (February 2024, The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series)

   Abstract The AO327 drift survey for radio pulsars and transients used the Arecibo telescope from 2010 until its collapse in 2020. AO327 collected ∼3100 hr of data at 327 MHz with a time resolution of 82μs and a frequency resolution of 24 kHz. While the main motivation for such surveys is the discovery of new pulsars and new, even unforeseen, types of radio transients, they also serendipitously collect a wealth of data on known pulsars. We present an electronic catalog of data and data products of 206 pulsars whose periodic emission was detected by AO327 and are listed in the Australia Telescope National Facility catalog of all published pulsars. The AO327 data products include dedispersed time series at full time resolution, average (“folded”) pulse profiles, Gaussian pulse profile templates, and an absolute phase reference that allows phase aligning the AO327 pulse profiles in a physically meaningful manner with profiles from data taken with other instruments. We also provide machine-readable tables with uncalibrated flux measurements at 327 MHz and pulse widths at 50% and 10% of the pulse peak determined from the fitted Gaussian profile templates. The AO327 catalog data set can be used in applications like population analysis of radio pulsars, pulse profile evolution studies in time and frequency, cone and core emission of the pulsar beam, scintillation, pulse intensity distributions, and others. It also constitutes a ready-made resource for teaching signal-processing and pulsar astronomy techniques. 

   more » « less
3. The Green Bank North Celestial Cap Survey. VIII. 21 New Pulsar Timing Solutions

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aceef7  

   Fiore, W.; Levin, L.; McLaughlin, M. A.; Anumarlapudi, A.; Kaplan, D. L.; Swiggum, J. K.; Agazie, G. Y.; Bavisotto, R.; Chawla, P.; DeCesar, M. E.; et al (October 2023, The Astrophysical Journal)

   Abstract We present timing solutions for 21 pulsars discovered in 350 MHz surveys using the Green Bank Telescope (GBT). All were discovered in the Green Bank North Celestial Cap pulsar survey, with the exception of PSR J0957−0619, which was found in the GBT 350 MHz Drift-scan pulsar survey. The majority of our timing observations were made with the GBT at 820 MHz. With a spin period of 37 ms and a 528 days orbit, PSR J0032+6946 joins a small group of five other mildly recycled wide binary pulsars, for which the duration of recycling through accretion is limited by the length of the companion’s giant phase. PSRs J0141+6303 and J1327+3423 are new disrupted recycled pulsars. We incorporate Arecibo observations from the NANOGrav pulsar timing array into our analysis of the latter. We also observed PSR J1327+3423 with the Long Wavelength Array, and our data suggest a frequency-dependent dispersion measure. PSR J0957−0619 was discovered as a rotating radio transient, but is a nulling pulsar at 820 MHz. PSR J1239+3239 is a new millisecond pulsar (MSP) in a 4 days orbit with a low-mass companion. Four of our pulsars already have published timing solutions, which we update in this work: the recycled wide binary PSR J0214+5222, the noneclipsing black widow PSR J0636+5128, the disrupted recycled pulsar J1434+7257, and the eclipsing binary MSP J1816+4510, which is in an 8.7 hr orbit with a redback-mass companion. 

   more » « less
4. The topology and polarization of subbeams associated with the drifting subpulse emission of pulsar B0943+10 – VII. Analysis of transitional intervals in the mode-switching process

   https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad3025  

   Logvinenko, S. V.; Rankin, Joanna M.; Suleymanova, S. A. (October 2023, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society)

   ABSTRACT We report a study of the transitional intervals between pulsar B0943+10’s two primary Q and B emission modes using Arecibo 327-MHz observations. The goal of this study was to detect signs of a ‘transitional’ mode at 327 MHz, discovered recently at lower frequencies. We have found subpulse drift and profile form patterns at 327 MHz similar to those identified at lower frequencies in the Q-to-B mode transition process. Pulse fading during about 15 stellar rotations preceding the appearance of subpulse drift was observed as well. Another part of the work is devoted to a detailed study of the pulse polarization variations in the main modes. A complex behaviour of the linear polarization percentage (LPP) of the dominant first component of the average profile with B-mode age has been found: during the first 4 h, the LPP continuously increases from 5 to 40 per cent, and over the next 1.5 h gradually decreases down to 30 per cent until the subsequent onset of the Q mode. In contrast, the LPP of the second component does not change over the B-mode lifetime, remaining at the level of 22 per cent. A non-instantaneous decrease in the LPP was detected at Q-mode onset. No systematic change of the LPP of the averaged Q-mode pulses over several hours of age was found. The results are discussed within the framework of the core–cone beam model and orthogonal polarization modes. 

   more » « less
5. Study of 72 Pulsars Discovered in the PALFA Survey: Timing Analysis, Glitch Activity, Emission Variability, and a Pulsar in an Eccentric Binary

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac375d  

   Parent, E.; Sewalls, H.; Freire, P. C.; Matheny, T.; Lyne, A. G.; Perera, B. B.; Cardoso, F.; McLaughlin, M. A.; Allen, B.; Brazier, A.; et al (January 2022, The Astrophysical Journal)

   Abstract We present new discoveries and results from long-term timing of 72 pulsars discovered in the Pulsar Arecibo L -band Feed Array (PALFA) survey, including precise determination of astrometric and spin parameters, and flux density and scatter broadening measurements at 1.4 GHz. Notable discoveries include two young pulsars (characteristic ages ∼30 kyr) with no apparent supernova remnant associations, three mode-changing, 12 nulling and two intermittent pulsars. We detected eight glitches in five pulsars. Among them is PSR J1939+2609, an apparently old pulsar (characteristic age ∼1 Gy), and PSR J1954+2529, which likely belongs to a newly emerging class of binary pulsars. The latter is the only pulsar among the 72 that is clearly not isolated: a nonrecycled neutron star with a 931 ms spin period in an eccentric ( e = 0.114) wide ( P b = 82.7 days) orbit with a companion of undetermined nature having a minimum mass of ∼0.6 M ⊙ . Since operations at Arecibo ceased in 2020 August, we give a final tally of PALFA sky coverage, and compare its 207 pulsar discoveries to the known population. On average, they are 50% more distant than other Galactic plane radio pulsars; PALFA millisecond pulsars (MSPs) have twice the dispersion measure per unit spin period than the known population of MSP in the plane. The four intermittent pulsars discovered by PALFA more than double the population of such objects, which should help to improve our understanding of pulsar magnetosphere physics. The statistics for these, rotating radio transients, and nulling pulsars suggest that there are many more of these objects in the Galaxy than was previously thought. 

   more » « less