12,103 research outputs found
Discovery of 14 radio pulsars in a survey of the Magellanic Clouds
A systematic survey of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds for radio
pulsars using the Parkes radio telescope and the 20-cm multibeam receiver has
resulted in the discovery of 14 pulsars and the redetection of five of the
eight previously known spin-powered pulsars believed to lie in the Magellanic
Clouds. Of the 14 new discoveries, 12 are believed to lie within Clouds, three
in the Small Cloud and nine in the Large Cloud, bringing the total number of
known spin-powered pulsars in the Clouds to 20. Averaged over all positions
within the survey area, the survey had a limiting flux density of about 0.12
mJy. Observed dispersion measures suggest that the mean free electron density
in the Magellanic Clouds is similar to that in the disk of our Galaxy. The
observed radio luminosities have little or no dependence on pulsar period or
characteristic age and the differential luminosity function is consistent with
a power-law slope of -1 as is observed for Galactic pulsars.Comment: In press, Ap
A Search for Single Radio Pulses and Bursts from Southern AXPs
We observed four southern AXPs in 1999 near 1400 MHz with the Parkes 64-m
radio telescope to search for periodic radio emission. No Fourier candidates
were discovered in the initial analysis, but the recent radio activity observed
for the AXP XTE J1810-197 has prompted us to revisit these data to search for
single radio pulses and bursts. The data were searched for both persistent and
bursting radio emission at a wide range of dispersion measures, but no
detections of either kind were made. These results further weaken the proposed
link between rotating radio transient sources and magnetars. However, continued
radio searches of these and other AXPs at different epochs are warranted given
the transient nature of the radio emission seen from XTE J1810-197, which until
very recently was the only known radio-emitting AXP.Comment: 3 pages, including 1 table. To appear in the proceedings of "40 Years
of Pulsars: Millisecond Pulsars, Magnetars, and More", August 12-17, 2007,
McGill University, Montreal, Canad
Pulsar Science with the Green Bank 43m Telescope
The 43m telescope at the NRAO site in Green Bank, WV has recently been
outfitted with a clone of the Green Bank Ultimate Pulsar Processing Instrument
(GUPPI \cite{Ransom:2009}) backend, making it very useful for a number of
pulsar related studies in frequency ranges 800-1600 MHz and 220-440 MHz. Some
of the recent science being done with it include: monitoring of the Crab
pulsar, a blind search for transient sources, pulsar searches of targets of
opportunity, and an all-sky mapping project. For the Crab monitoring project,
regular observations are searched for giant pulses (GPs), which are then
correlated with -ray photons from the \emph{Fermi} spacecraft. Data
from the all-sky mapping project are first run through a pipeline that does a
blind transient search, looking for single pulses over a DM range of 0-500
pc~cm. These projects are made possible by MIT Lincoln Labs.Comment: 2 pages, 1 figure, to appear in AIP Conference Proceedings of Pulsar
Conference 2010 "Radio Pulsars: a key to unlock the secrets of the Universe",
Sardinia, October 201
Cloud Structure and Physical Conditions in Star-forming Regions from Optical Observations. I. Data and Component Structure
We present high-resolution optical spectra (at ~0.6--1.8 km s-1) of
interstellar CN, CH, CH^+, \ion{Ca}{1}, \ion{K}{1}, and \ion{Ca}{2} absorption
toward 29 lines of sight in three star-forming regions, \rho Oph, Cep OB2, and
Cep OB3. The observations and data reduction are described. The agreement
between earlier measurements of the total equivalent widths and our results is
quite good. However, our higher resolution spectra reveal complex structure and
closely blended components in most lines of sight. The velocity component
structure of each species is obtained by analyzing the spectra of the six
species for a given sight line together. The tabulated column densities and
Doppler parameters of individual components are determined by using the method
of profile fitting. Total column densities along lines of sight are computed by
summing results from profile fitting for individual components and are compared
with column densities from the apparent optical depth method. A more detailed
analysis of these data and their implications will be presented in a companion
paper.Comment: 66 pages, 15 figures, accepted to ApJ
Radio Polarization of the Young High-Magnetic-Field Pulsar PSR J1119-6127
We have investigated the radio polarization properties of PSR J1119-6127, a
recently discovered young radio pulsar with a large magnetic field. Using
pulsar-gated radio imaging data taken at a center frequency of 2496 MHz with
the Australia Telescope Compact Array, we have determined a rotation measure
for the pulsar of +842 +/- 23 rad m^-2. These data, combined with archival
polarimetry data taken at a center frequency of 1366 MHz with the Parkes
telescope, were used to determine the polarization characteristics of PSR
J1119-6127 at both frequencies. The pulsar has a fractional linear polarization
of ~75% and ~55% at 1366 and 2496 MHz, respectively, and the profile consists
of a single, wide component. This pulse morphology and high degree of linear
polarization are in agreement with previously noticed trends for young pulsars
(e.g., PSR J1513-5908). A rotating-vector (RV) model fit of the position angle
(PA) of linear polarization over pulse phase using the Parkes data suggests
that the radio emission comes from the leading edge of a conal beam. We discuss
PSR J1119-6127 in the context of a recent theoretical model of pulsar spin-down
which can in principle be tested with polarization and timing data from this
pulsar. Geometric constraints from the RV fit are currently insufficient to
test this model with statistical significance, but additional data may allow
such a test in the future.Comment: 9 pages, including 6 figures and 1 table. Accepted for publication in
Ap
Discovery of Two High-Magnetic-Field Radio Pulsars
We report the discovery of two young isolated radio pulsars with very high
inferred magnetic fields. PSR J1119-6127 has period P = 0.407 s, and the
largest period derivative known among radio pulsars, Pdot = 4.0e-12. Under
standard assumptions these parameters imply a characteristic spin-down age of
only tau = 1.6 kyr and a surface dipole magnetic field strength of B = 4.1e13
G. We have measured a stationary period-second-derivative for this pulsar,
resulting in a braking index of n = 2.91+-0.05. We have also observed a glitch
in the rotation of the pulsar, with fractional period change Delta_P/P =
-4.4e-9. Archival radio imaging data suggest the presence of a previously
uncataloged supernova remnant centered on the pulsar. The second pulsar, PSR
J1814-1744, has P = 3.975 s and Pdot = 7.4e-13. These parameters imply tau = 85
kyr, and B = 5.5e13 G, the largest of any known radio pulsar.
Both PSR J1119-6127 and PSR J1814-1744 show apparently normal radio emission
in a regime of magnetic field strength where some models predict that no
emission should occur. Also, PSR J1814-1744 has spin parameters similar to the
anomalous X-ray pulsar (AXP) 1E 2259+586, but shows no discernible X-ray
emission. If AXPs are isolated, high magnetic field neutron stars
(``magnetars''), these results suggest that their unusual attributes are
unlikely to be merely a consequence of their very high inferred magnetic
fields.Comment: 7 pages, 3 embedded EPS figures, to be published in Ap
Relativistic photoelectron spectra in the ionization of atoms by elliptically polarized light
Relativistic tunnel ionization of atoms by intense, elliptically polarized
light is considered. The relativistic version of the Landau-Dykhne formula is
employed. The general analytical expression is obtained for the relativistic
photoelectron spectra. The most probable angle of electron emission, the
angular distribution near this angle, the position of the maximum and the width
of the energy spectrum are calculated. In the weak field limit we obtain the
familiar non-relativistic results. For the case of circular polarization our
analytical results are in agreement with recent derivations of Krainov [V.P.
Krainov, J. Phys. B, {\bf 32}, 1607 (1999)].Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Journal of Physics
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