Search for Millisecond Pulsars for the Pulsar Timing Array project

Pulsars are rapidly rotating highly magnetised neutron stars (i.e. ultra dense stars, where about one solar mass is concentrated in a sphere with a radius of ~ 10 km), which irradiate radio beams in a fashion similar to a lighthouse. As a consequence, whenever the beams cut our line of sight we perceive a radio pulses, one (or two) per pulsar rotation, with a frequency up to hundred of times a second. Owing to their compact nature, rapid spin and high inertia, pulsars are in general fairly stable rotators, hence the Times of Arrival (TOAs) of the pulses at a radio telescope can be used as the ticks of a clock. This holds true in particular for the sub­class of the millisecond pulsars (MSPs), having a spin period smaller than the conventional limit of 30 ms, whose very rapid rotation and relatively older age provide better rotational stability than the ordinary pulsars. Indeed, some MSPs rotate so regularly that they can rival the best atomic clocks on Earth over timespan of few months or years.This feature allows us to use MSPs as tools in a cosmic laboratory, by exploiting a procedure called timing, which consists in the repeated and regular measurement of the TOAs from a pulsar and then in the search for trends in the series of the TOAs over various timespans, from fraction of seconds to decades.For example the study of pulsars in binary systems has already provided the most stringent tests to date of General Relativity in strong gravitational fields and has unambiguously showed the occurrence of the emission of gravitational waves from a binary system comprising two massive bodies in a close orbit. In last decades a new exciting perspective has been opened, i.e. to use pulsars also for a direct detection of the so far elusive gravitational waves and thereby applying the pulsar timing for cosmological studies. In fact, the gravitational waves (GWs) going across our Galaxy pass over all the Galactic pulsars and the Earth, perturbing the space­time at the pulsar and Earth locations, as well as anywhere along the line­of­sight from the Earth and each of the pulsars. This in turn produces a modulation in the rhythm of the TOAs of the pulses from all the pulsars, with the variation in the TOAs having a strength which is proportional to the amplitude of the GW and a periodicity related to the frequency of the GW. Of course if they are caused by a common physical phenomenon (like a passing­by GW), these variations of the TOAs are expected to be somehow correlated between the various pulsars, allowing us to disentangle this effect from other effects which could mimic the occurrence of such modulation, like intrinsic irregularities in the rotation of a pulsar, changing interstellar medium along the line of sight, error in the reference clocks used for determining the TOAs and so on.The consideration of the aforementioned possible sources of additional effects which could mask the signature of a genuine GW shows that a safe direct detection of a GW cannot involve the observation and timing of a single pulsar. Instead, it has been theoretically shown that high precision timing over a 5­10 years data­span of a network of suitable MSPs forming a so­ called Pulsar Timing Array (PTA) ­ in which the pulsars are used as the endpoints of arms of a huge cosmic GW detector ­ would allow us to overcome the previous problems and open the possibility of a direct detection of GWs. In particular such apparatus is able to detect GWs in the frequency range between 10 ­9 and 10­7 Hz, with the best sensitivity around the nanoHz. Given the frequency range of operation, the most favorable source of GWs for a PTA appears to be the cosmological background of GWs produced by the coalescence of supermassive binary black­holes in the early stages of the Universe evolution, at redshift around 1­2. In order to set up a suitable PTA it is necessary on one hand to search for new MSPs having the required clock stability and signal intensity, and on another hand to perform regular high­precision timing observations of the available sample, combining the results from all the pulsars with the use of a solid and well tested software, capable of revealing the genuine GW signal which is searched for. This work focuses on the first task, in an attempt to enlarge the number of suitable MSPs, in the framework of the High Time Resolution Universe (HTRU) survey for pulsars and fast radio transients, that is currently underway at the 64­m Parkes Radio Telescope (NSW, Australia). This experiment has been designed in 2007 and started three years ago, with the main scope of largely increasing (possibly doubling) the total number of MSPs known in the Galactic Field (there were only about 40 of them until 2009). The enlarged sample may provide some very good MSP­clocks to be added to the still relatively poor list of objects well suited for belonging to a PTA. In the first chapter of this thesis an overview of the pulsar phenomenon is given, with also a description of the timing technique and its physical applications. The search methods that can be used to analyse the data in order to find isolated and binary pulsars are reported in the second chapter. The third chapter describes part of the work performed by me in the framework of the HTRU survey; in particular the search for MSPs in the HTRU data with a data reduction pipeline sensitive also to highly relativistic systems (i.e. to binary pulsars in close orbits). While performing the aforementioned search, it emerged the issue of the inspection of the hundreds of thousands of pulsar candidates produced by the adopted pipeline, the vast majority of them being the result of radio interferences. Therefore, a new approach has been explored for making manageable the human intervention in the procedure of selection of the trustable candidates, namely the use of an Artificial Neural Network on the pulsar candidates. The fourth chapter is devoted to report on that. At the end, a brief summary of this thesis work is given, as well as a list of the publications, in preparation and resulting from the HTRU collaborative effort

I laboratori divulgativi INAF-OAC: l’astronomia è un gioco da ragazzi!

Da svariati anni il settore Divulgazione e Didattica dell'INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari dedica particolare attenzione alla progettazione e realizzazione di laboratori divulgativi sull'astronomia. Tali laboratori vengono proposti regolarmente durante eventi speciali presso biblioteche pubbliche, eventi dedicati al grande pubblico, nei festival scientifici e letterari, locali e nazionali. In questo report, primo di una serie, viene presentata la filosofia e lo schema generale adottato per la progettazione dei laboratori proposti dall'INAF-OAC e vengono descritti degli esempi specifici

Il nuovo Planetario INAF-OAC ...e quindi entrammo a riveder le stelle

Si tratta del poster di un congresso, non pubblicato in atti di convegnoIl poster è relativo al nuovo Planetario dell'INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari e ne illustra le caratteristiche tecniche, le attività che già vi si stanno svolgendo e quelle in preparazione

VizieR Online Data Catalog: HTRU survey: long-period pulsars polarimetry (Tiburzi+, 2013)

We present the polarization analysis of a sample of 49 long-period pulsars, whose spin periods range from a few hundred milliseconds to about two and a half seconds. They were all discovered during the mid-latitude part of the HTRU survey (Keith et al. 2010MNRAS.409..619K; Bates et al. 2012MNRAS.427.1052B) apart from PSR J1846-4249 (that has been discovered in the high latitude survey and it will be presented in one of the next papers of the HTRU series). After discovery and confirmation, the pulsars were followed-up with the third Parkes Digital Filterbank, observing them for at least one year to allow the determination of a complete timing solution. (2 data files)

VizieR Online Data Catalog: HTRU survey. Timing of 54 pulsars (Bates+, 2012)

All the pulsars presented here were discovered in the HTRU mid-latitude survey, which has now been fully processed. The survey observed the Galactic plane in the region -120°-35° were regularly observed using the 76-m Lovell Telescope and those below this declination were observed as part of the HTRU timing programme at Parkes. (3 data files)

SETI in Sardinia: status of scientific and technological developments

Since 2013, several staff members of the Cagliari Astronomical Observatory have been involved with SETI activities, both from a technological and a scientific perspective. One major asset related to this research area is the presence, in the territory, of one of the most modern single-dish antennas: the Sardinia Radio Telescope (SRT). In this paper, we outline all aspects of our initiatives in the framework of the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence. We describe the development of SRT instrumentation for the purpose of receiving data that could potentially contain signs of life, as well as the directions that we are investigating for studying and analyzing these data, including in an international context

SETI scientific activities in Sardinia: Search for ET, pulsars and Fast Radio Bursts

The Sardinia Radio Telescope, which was inaugurated in 2013, is getting ready to participate in the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence (SETI) observations. This involves, in collaboration with the SETI collaboration and the ``Breakthrough Listen initiative", the onsite installation of the SERENDIP VI setup for SETI observations. In parallel, a scientific team at the Cagliari Astronomical Observatory is becoming acquainted with SETI search algorithms: both standard algorithms using the Fast Fourier Transform; and more versatile algorithms using the Kahrunen-Loève Transform (KLT) as well as Wavelets. The team is also investigating the possibility to pursue, with the SERENDIP VI setup, the simultaneous search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, pulsars and Fast Radio Bursts

Multi-messenger observations of a binary neutron star merger

On 2017 August 17 a binary neutron star coalescence candidate (later designated GW170817) with merger time 12:41:04 UTC was observed through gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor independently detected a gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) with a time delay of ~1.7 s with respect to the merger time. From the gravitational-wave signal, the source was initially localized to a sky region of 31 deg2 at a luminosity distance of 40+8-8 Mpc and with component masses consistent with neutron stars. The component masses were later measured to be in the range 0.86 to 2.26 Mo. An extensive observing campaign was launched across the electromagnetic spectrum leading to the discovery of a bright optical transient (SSS17a, now with the IAU identification of AT 2017gfo) in NGC 4993 (at ~40 Mpc) less than 11 hours after the merger by the One- Meter, Two Hemisphere (1M2H) team using the 1 m Swope Telescope. The optical transient was independently detected by multiple teams within an hour. Subsequent observations targeted the object and its environment. Early ultraviolet observations revealed a blue transient that faded within 48 hours. Optical and infrared observations showed a redward evolution over ~10 days. Following early non-detections, X-ray and radio emission were discovered at the transient’s position ~9 and ~16 days, respectively, after the merger. Both the X-ray and radio emission likely arise from a physical process that is distinct from the one that generates the UV/optical/near-infrared emission. No ultra-high-energy gamma-rays and no neutrino candidates consistent with the source were found in follow-up searches. These observations support the hypothesis that GW170817 was produced by the merger of two neutron stars in NGC4993 followed by a short gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) and a kilonova/macronova powered by the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei synthesized in the ejecta

Multi-messenger Observations of a Binary Neutron Star Merger

On 2017 August 17 a binary neutron star coalescence candidate (later designated GW170817) with merger time 12:41:04 UTC was observed through gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor independently detected a gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) with a time delay of ∼ 1.7 {{s}} with respect to the merger time. From the gravitational-wave signal, the source was initially localized to a sky region of 31 deg2 at a luminosity distance of {40}-8+8 Mpc and with component masses consistent with neutron stars. The component masses were later measured to be in the range 0.86 to 2.26 {M}ȯ . An extensive observing campaign was launched across the electromagnetic spectrum leading to the discovery of a bright optical transient (SSS17a, now with the IAU identification of AT 2017gfo) in NGC 4993 (at ∼ 40 {{Mpc}}) less than 11 hours after the merger by the One-Meter, Two Hemisphere (1M2H) team using the 1 m Swope Telescope. The optical transient was independently detected by multiple teams within an hour. Subsequent observations targeted the object and its environment. Early ultraviolet observations revealed a blue transient that faded within 48 hours. Optical and infrared observations showed a redward evolution over ∼10 days. Following early non-detections, X-ray and radio emission were discovered at the transient’s position ∼ 9 and ∼ 16 days, respectively, after the merger. Both the X-ray and radio emission likely arise from a physical process that is distinct from the one that generates the UV/optical/near-infrared emission. No ultra-high-energy gamma-rays and no neutrino candidates consistent with the source were found in follow-up searches. These observations support the hypothesis that GW170817 was produced by the merger of two neutron stars in NGC 4993 followed by a short gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) and a kilonova/macronova powered by the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei synthesized in the ejecta.</p