Searches for Radio Pulsars & Fast Transients and Multiwavelength Studies of Single-pulse Emission

Pulsars are excellent tools for studying a wide array of astrophysical phenomena (e.g. gravitational waves, the interstellar medium, general relativity), yet they are still not fully understood. What are their emission processes and how do they change at different energies? How is giant pulse emission different from regular emission? How are different classes of pulsars (RRATs, magnetars, nulling pulsars, etc.) related? Answering these questions will not only help us to understand pulsars in general, but will also help improve techniques for pulsar searches and timing, gravitational wave searches, and single-pulse searches. The work we present here aims to answer these questions through studies of giant pulse emission, the discovery of new pulsars, and single-pulse studies of a large population of pulsars and RRATs.;We took advantage of open telescope time on the 43-m telescope in Green Bank, WV to conduct a long-term study of giant pulses from the Crab pulsar at 1.2 GHz and 330 MHz. Over a timespan of 15 months, we collected a total of 95000 giant pulses which we correlated with both gamma-ray photons from the Fermi satellite and giant pulses collected at 8.9 GHz. Statistics of these pulses show that their amplitudes follow power-law distributions, with indices in the range of 2.1 to 3.1. The correlation with giant pulses at 8.9 GHz showed that the emission processes at 1.2 GHz and 8.9 GHz are related, despite significant profile differences. The correlation with Fermi gamma-ray photons was to test if increased pair production in the magnetosphere was the cause of giant pulses. Our findings suggest that, while it may play a role, increased pair production is not the dominant cause of giant pulses.;As part of a single-pulse study, we reprocessed the archival Parkes Multibeam Pulsar Survey, discovering six previously unknown pulsars. PSR J0922-52 has a period of 9.68 ms and a DM of 122.4 pc cm-3. PSR J1147-66 has a period of 3.72 ms and a DM of 133.8 pc cm-3. PSR J1227-6208 has a period of 34.53 ms, a DM of 362.6 pc cm-3, is in a 6.7 day binary orbit. PSR J1546-59 has a period of 7.80 ms and a DM of 168.3 pc cm-3. PSR J1725-3853 is an isolated 4.79-ms pulsar with a DM of 158.2 pc cm-3. PSR J1753-2822 has a period of 18.62 ms, a DM of 298.4 pc cm-3, and is in a 9.3 hour binary orbit. These pulsars were likely missed in earlier processing efforts due to the fact that they have both high DMs and short periods, and also the large number of candidates that needed to be looked through. These discoveries suggest that further pulsars are awaiting discovery in the multibeam survey data.;We also searched for single pulses out to a DM of 5000 pc cm-3 with widths of up to two seconds in our reprocessing of the PMPS data. We recorded single pulses from 264 known pulsars and 15 RRATs. We fit amplitude distributions of the pulsars with lognormal distributions and power-law tails, finding that some pulsars show a deviation from a lognormal distribution in the form of an excess of high-energy pulses. Fitting lognormal distributions to the amplitudes of pulses from RRATs showed similar behavior for most RRATs. Here, however, there seem to be two distinct populations of pulses, with the first population being consistent with noise. For pulsars that were detected in a periodicity search, we computed the ratio of their single-pulse S/N to their FFT S/N and looked for correlations between this ratio and physical parameters of the pulsars. We found a few strong correlations, but they all seem to be due to the strongest correlation between the ratio and spin period

A Study of Single Pulses in the Parkes Multibeam Pulsar Survey

We reprocessed the Parkes Multibeam Pulsar Survey, searching for single pulses out to a DM of 5000 pc cm$^{-3}$ with widths of up to one second. We recorded single pulses from 264 known pulsars and 14 Rotating Radio Transients. We produced amplitude distributions for each pulsar which we fit with log-normal distributions, power-law tails, and a power-law function divided by an exponential function, finding that some pulsars show a deviation from a log-normal distribution in the form of an excess of high-energy pulses. We found that a function consisting of a power-law divided by an exponential fit the distributions of most pulsars better than either log-normal or power-law functions. For pulsars that were detected in a periodicity search, we computed the ratio of their single-pulse signal-to-noise ratios to their signal-to-noise ratios from a Fourier transform and looked for correlations between this ratio and physical parameters of the pulsars. The only correlation found is the expected relationship between this ratio and the spin period. Fitting log-normal distributions to the amplitudes of pulses from RRATs showed similar behaviour for most RRATs. Here, however, there seem to be two distinct distributions of pulses, with the lower-energy distribution being consistent with noise. Pulse-energy distributions for two of the RRATS processed were consistent with those found for normal pulsars, suggesting that pulsars and RRATs have a common emission mechanism, but other factors influence the specific emission properties of each source class.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in MNRA

A Giant Sample of Giant Pulses from the Crab Pulsar

We observed the Crab pulsar with the 43-m telescope in Green Bank, WV over a timespan of 15 months. In total we obtained 100 hours of data at 1.2 GHz and seven hours at 330 MHz, resulting in a sample of about 95000 giant pulses (GPs). This is the largest sample, to date, of GPs from the Crab pulsar taken with the same telescope and backend and analyzed as one data set. We calculated power-law fits to amplitude distributions for main pulse (MP) and interpulse (IP) GPs, resulting in indices in the range of 2.1-3.1 for MP GPs at 1.2 GHz and in the range of 2.5-3.0 and 2.4-3.1 for MP and IP GPs at 330 MHz. We also correlated the GPs at 1.2 GHz with GPs from the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT), which were obtained simultaneously at a higher frequency (8.9 GHz) over a span of 26 hours. In total, 7933 GPs from the 43-m telescope at 1.2 GHz and 39900 GPs from the GBT were recorded during these contemporaneous observations. At 1.2 GHz, 236 (3%) MP GPs and 23 (5%) IP GPs were detected at 8.9 GHz, both with zero chance probability. Another 15 (4%) low-frequency IP GPs were detected within one spin period of high-frequency IP GPs, with a chance probability of 9%. This indicates that the emission processes at high and low radio frequencies are related, despite significant pulse profile shape differences. The 43-m GPs were also correlated with Fermi gamma-ray photons to see if increased pair production in the magnetosphere is the mechanism responsible for GP emission. A total of 92022 GPs and 393 gamma-ray photons were used in this correlation analysis. No significant correlations were found between GPs and gamma-ray photons. This indicates that increased pair production in the magnetosphere is likely not the dominant cause of GPs. Possible methods of GP production may be increased coherence of synchrotron emission or changes in beaming direction.Comment: 33 pages, 10 figures, 6 tables, accepted for publication in Ap

High-cadence observations and variable spin behaviour of magnetar Swift J1818.0−1607 after its outburst

International audienceWe report on multifrequency radio observations of the new magnetar Swift J1818.0−1607, following it for more than one month with high cadence. The observations commenced less than 35 h after its registered first outburst. We obtained timing, polarization, and spectral information. Swift J1818.0−1607 has an unusually steep spectrum for a radio emitting magnetar and also has a relatively narrow and simple pulse profile. The position angle swing of the polarization is flat over the pulse profile, possibly suggesting that our line of sight grazes the edge of the emission beam. This may also explain the steep spectrum. The spin evolution shows large variation in the spin-down rate, associated with four distinct timing events over the course of our observations. Those events may be related to the appearance and disappearance of a second pulse component. The first timing event coincides with our actual observations, while we did not detect significant changes in the emission properties that could reveal further magnetospheric changes. Characteristic ages inferred from the timing measurements over the course of months vary by nearly an order of magnitude. A longer-term spin-down measurement over approximately 100 d suggests a characteristic age of about 500 yr, larger than previously reported. Though Swift J1818.0−1607 could still be one of the youngest neutron stars (and magnetars) detected so far, we caution using the characteristic age as a true-age indicator given the caveats behind its calculation

Long-term scintillation studies of EPTA pulsars. I. Observations and basic results

International audienceInterstellar scintillation analysis of pulsars allows us to probe the small-scale distribution and inhomogeneities of the ionized interstellar medium. Our priority is to present the data set and the basic measurements of scintillation parameters of pulsars employing long-term scintillation observations carried out from 2011 January to 2020 August by the European Pulsar Timing Array radio telescopes in the 21-cm and 11-cm bands. Additionally, we aim to identify future possible lines of study using this long-term scintillation dataset. We present the long-term time series of $\nu_{\rm d}$ and $\tau_{\rm d}$ for 13 pulsars. Sanity-checks and comparisons indicate that the scintillation parameters of our work and previously published works are mostly consistent. For two pulsars, PSRs~J1857+0943 and J1939+2134, we were able to obtain measurements of the $\nu_{\rm d}$ at both bands, which allows us to derive the time series of frequency scaling indices with a mean and a standard deviation of 2.82$\pm$1.95 and 3.18$\pm$0.60, respectively. We found some interesting features which will be studied in more detail in subsequent papers in this series: (i) in the time series of PSR~J1939+2134, where the scintillation bandwidth sharply increases or decreases associated with a sharp change of dispersion measure; (ii) PSR~J0613$-$0200 and PSR~J0636+5126 show a strong annual variation in the time series of the $\tau_{\rm d}$; (iii) PSR~J1939+2134 shows a weak anti-correlation between scintillation timescale and dispersion in WSRT data

Long-term scintillation studies of EPTA pulsars. I. Observations and basic results

Liu Y, Verbiest J, Main RA, et al. Long-term scintillation studies of EPTA pulsars. I. Observations and basic results. arXiv:2203.16950. 2022.Interstellar scintillation analysis of pulsars allows us to probe the small-scale distribution and inhomogeneities of the ionized interstellar medium. Our priority is to present the data set and the basic measurements of scintillation parameters of pulsars employing long-term scintillation observations carried out from 2011 January to 2020 August by the European Pulsar Timing Array radio telescopes in the 21-cm and 11-cm bands. Additionally, we aim to identify future possible lines of study using this long-term scintillation dataset. We present the long-term time series of $\nu_{\rm d}$ and $\tau_{\rm d}$ for 13 pulsars. Sanity-checks and comparisons indicate that the scintillation parameters of our work and previously published works are mostly consistent. For two pulsars, PSRs~J1857+0943 and J1939+2134, we were able to obtain measurements of the $\nu_{\rm d}$ at both bands, which allows us to derive the time series of frequency scaling indices with a mean and a standard deviation of 2.82$\pm$1.95 and 3.18$\pm$0.60, respectively. We found some interesting features which will be studied in more detail in subsequent papers in this series: (i) in the time series of PSR~J1939+2134, where the scintillation bandwidth sharply increases or decreases associated with a sharp change of dispersion measure; (ii) PSR~J0613$-$0200 and PSR~J0636+5126 show a strong annual variation in the time series of the $\tau_{\rm d}$; (iii) PSR~J1939+2134 shows a weak anti-correlation between scintillation timescale and dispersion in WSRT data

A MeerKAT, e-MERLIN, H.E.S.S., and Swift search for persistent and transient emission associated with three localized FRBs

We report on a search for persistent radio emission from the one-off fast radio burst (FRB) 20190714A, as well as from two repeating FRBs, 20190711A and 20171019A, using the MeerKAT radio telescope. For FRB 20171019A, we also conducted simultaneous observations with the High-Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) in very high-energy gamma rays and searched for signals in the ultraviolet, optical, and X-ray bands. For this FRB, we obtain a UV flux upper limit of |$1.39 \times 10^{-16}~{\rm erg\, cm^{-2}\, s^{-1}}$|Å^−1, X-ray limit of |$\sim 6.6 \times 10^{-14}~{\rm erg\, cm^{-2}\, s^{-1}}$| and a limit on the very high energy gamma-ray flux |$\Phi (E\gt 120\, {\rm GeV}) \lt 1.7\times 10^{-12}\, \mathrm{erg\, cm^{-2}\, s^{-1}}$|⁠. We obtain a radio upper limit of ∼15 |$\mu$|Jy beam^−1 for persistent emission at the locations of both FRBs 20190711A and 20171019A with MeerKAT. However, we detected an almost unresolved (ratio of integrated flux to peak flux is ∼1.7 beam) radio emission, where the synthesized beam size was ∼ 8 arcsec size with a peak brightness of |$\sim 53\, \mu$|Jy beam^−1 at MeerKAT and |$\sim 86\, \mu$|Jy beam^−1 at e-MERLIN, possibly associated with FRB 20190714A at z = 0.2365. This represents the first detection of persistent continuum radio emission potentially associated with a (as-yet) non-repeating FRB. If the association is confirmed, one of the strongest remaining distinction between repeaters and non-repeaters would no longer be applicable. A parallel search for repeat bursts from these FRBs revealed no new detections down to a fluence of 0.08 Jy ms for a 1 ms duration burst