4,600 research outputs found
Pulsar State Switching from Markov Transitions and Stochastic Resonance
Markov processes are shown to be consistent with metastable states seen in
pulsar phenomena, including intensity nulling, pulse-shape mode changes,
subpulse drift rates, spindown rates, and X-ray emission, based on the
typically broad and monotonic distributions of state lifetimes. Markovianity
implies a nonlinear magnetospheric system in which state changes occur
stochastically, corresponding to transitions between local minima in an
effective potential. State durations (though not transition times) are thus
largely decoupled from the characteristic time scales of various magnetospheric
processes. Dyadic states are common but some objects show at least four states
with some transitions forbidden. Another case is the long-term intermittent
pulsar B1931+24 that has binary radio-emission and torque states with wide, but
non-monotonic duration distributions. It also shows a quasi-period of
days in a 13-yr time sequence, suggesting stochastic resonance in a Markov
system with a forcing function that could be strictly periodic or
quasi-periodic. Nonlinear phenomena are associated with time-dependent activity
in the acceleration region near each magnetic polar cap. The polar-cap diode is
altered by feedback from the outer magnetosphere and by return currents from an
equatorial disk that may also cause the neutron star to episodically charge and
discharge. Orbital perturbations in the disk provide a natural periodicity for
the forcing function in the stochastic resonance interpretation of B1931+24.
Disk dynamics may introduce additional time scales in observed phenomena.
Future work can test the Markov interpretation, identify which pulsar types
have a propensity for state changes, and clarify the role of selection effects.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figures, submitted to the Astrophysical Journa
RFI Identification and Mitigation Using Simultaneous Dual Station Observations
RFI mitigation is a critically important issue in radio astronomy using
existing instruments as well as in the development of next-generation radio
telescopes, such as the Square Kilometer Array (SKA). Most designs for the SKA
involve multiple stations with spacings of up to a few thousands of kilometers
and thus can exploit the drastically different RFI environments at different
stations. As demonstrator observations and analysis for SKA-like instruments,
and to develop RFI mitigation schemes that will be useful in the near term, we
recently conducted simultaneous observations with Arecibo Observatory and the
Green Bank Telescope (GBT). The observations were aimed at diagnosing RFI and
using the mostly uncorrelated RFI between the two sites to excise RFI from
several generic kinds of measurements such as giant pulses from Crab-like
pulsars and weak HI emission from galaxies in bands heavily contaminated by
RFI. This paper presents observations, analysis, and RFI identification and
excision procedures that are effective for both time series and spectroscopy
applications using multi-station data.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures (4 in ps and 5 in jpg formats), Accepted for
publication in Radio Scienc
- …