173 research outputs found
Flux density measurements of GPS candidate pulsars at 610 MHz using interferometric imaging technique
We conducted radio interferometric observations of six pulsars at 610 MHz
using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT). All these objects were
claimed or suspected to be the gigahertz-peaked spectra (GPS) pulsars. For a
half of the sources in our sample the interferometric imaging provides the only
means to estimate their flux at 610 MHz due to a strong pulse
scatter-broadening. In our case, these pulsars have very high dispersion
measure values and we present their spectra containing for the first time
low-frequency measurements. The remaining three pulsars were observed at low
frequencies using the conventional pulsar flux measurement method. The
interferometric imaging technique allowed us to re-examine their fluxes at 610
MHz. We were able to confirm the GPS feature in the PSR B182313 spectrum and
select a GPS candidate pulsar. These results clearly demonstrate that the
interferometric imaging technique can be successfully applied to estimate flux
density of pulsars even in the presence of strong scattering.Comment: 7 pages, 3 tables, 5 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Gigahertz-peaked spectra pulsars and thermal absorption model
We present the results of our radio interferometric observations of pulsars
at 325 MHz and 610 MHz using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT). We
used the imaging method to estimate the flux densities of several pulsars at
these radio frequencies. The analysis of the shapes of the pulsar spectra
allowed us to identify five new gigahertz-peaked spectra (GPS) pulsars. Using
the hypothesis that the spectral turnovers are caused by thermal free-free
absorption in the interstellar medium, we modeled the spectra of all known
objects of this kind. Using the model, we were able to put some observational
constrains on the physical parameters of the absorbing matter, which allows us
to distinguish between the possible sources of absorption. We also discuss the
possible effects of the existence of GPS pulsars on future search surveys,
showing that the optimal frequency range for finding such objects would be from
a few GHz (for regular GPS sources) to possibly 10 GHz for pulsars and
radio-magnetars exhibiting very strong absorption.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ, 28 pages, 8 figure
Multi-frequency observations and spectral analysis of two gigahertz-peaked spectra pulsars
We report the multi-frequency observations of two pulsars: J1740+1000 and
B1800-21, using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope and the Green Bank
Telescope. The main aim of these observations was to estimate the flux density
spectrum of these pulsars, as both of them were previously reported to exhibit
gigahertz-peaked spectra. J1740+1000 is a young pulsar far from the Galactic
plane and the interpretation of its spectrum was inconclusive in the light of
the recent flux density measurements. Our result supports the gigahertz-peaked
interpretation of the PSR J1740+1000 spectrum. B1800-21 is a Vela-like pulsar
near the W30 complex, whose spectrum exhibit a significant change between 2012
and 2014 year. Our analysis shows that the current shape of the spectrum is
similar to that observed before 2009 and confirms that the observed spectral
change happen in a time-scale of a few years.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure
Understanding the radio emission geometry of multi-component radio pulsars from retardation and aberration effects
We have conducted a detailed analysis of the emission geometry of a handful
of radio pulsars that have prominent, multiple-component profiles at meter
wavelengths. From careful determination of the total number of emission
components and their locations in pulse longitude, we find that all of the six
pulsars show clear evidence for retardation and aberration effects in the conal
emission beams. Using this information, coupled with a dipolar field geometry,
we obtain estimates of the height and transverse location in the magnetosphere,
for each of the emitting cones in these pulsars. These results support our
earlier conclusions for PSR B0329+54 in that we find successive outer cones (in
cases of multi-cone pulsars) being emitted at higher altitudes in the
magnetosphere. The range of inferred heights is from ~200 to ~2200 km. The set
of ``active'' field lines from which the conal emissions originate are located
in the region from ~0.22 to ~0.74 of the polar cap radius. At the neutron star
surface, these conal rings map to radii of a few to several tens of meters and
the separation between successive rings is about 10 to 20 meters. We discuss
the implications of these findings for the understanding of the pulsar emission
geometry and for current theories and models of the emission mechanism.Comment: 20 pages, 2 figures. Accepted for Astrophysical Journal, 200
Influence of Rotation on Pulsar Radiation Characteristics
We present a relativistic model for pulsar radio emission by including the
effect of rotation on coherent curvature radiation by bunches. We find that
rotation broadens the width of leading component compared to the width of
trailing component. We estimate the component widths in the average pulse
profiles of about 24 pulsars, and find that 19 of them have a broader leading
component. We explain this difference in the component widths by using the
nested cone emission geometry.
We estimate the effect of pulsar spin on the Stokes parameters, and find that
the inclination between the rotation and magnetic axes can introduce an
asymmetry in the circular polarization of the conal components. We analyze the
single pulse polarization data of PSR B0329+54 at 606 MHz, and find that in its
conal components, one sense of circular polarization dominates in the leading
component while the other sense dominates in the trailing component. Our
simulation shows that changing the sign of the impact parameter changes the
sense of circular polarization as well as the swing of polarization angle.Comment: 20 pages, 4 Postscript figures, uses aastex.cls. Accepted for
Publication in ApJ 200
Frequency dependence of pulsar radiation patterns
We report on new results from simultaneous, dual frequency, single pulse
observation of PSR B0329+54 using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope. We find
that the longitude separation of subpulses at two different frequencies (238
and 612 MHz) is less than that for the corresponding components in the average
profile. A similar behaviour has been noticed before in a number of pulsars. We
argue that subpulses are emitted within narrow flux tubes of the dipolar field
lines and that the mean pulsar beam has a conal structure. In such a model the
longitudes of profile components are determined by the intersection of the line
of sight trajectory with subpulse-associated emission beams. Thus, we show that
the difference in the frequency dependence of subpulse and profile component
longitudes is a natural property of the conal model of pulsar emission beam. We
support our conclusions by numerical modelling of pulsar emission, using the
known parameters for this pulsar, which produce results that agree very well
with our dual frequency observations.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap
Absolute emission altitude of pulsars: PSRs B1839+09, B1916+14 and B2111+46
We study the mean profiles of the multi--component pulsars PSRs B1839+09,
B1916+14 and B2111+46. We estimate the emission height of the core components,
and hence find the absolute emission altitudes corresponding to the conal
components. By fitting Gaussians to the emission components, we determine the
phase location of the component peaks. Our findings indicate that the emission
beams of these pulsars have the nested core--cone structures. Based on the
phase location of the component peaks, we estimate the aberration--retardation
(A/R) phase shifts in the profiles. Due to the A/R phase shift, the peak of the
core component in the intensity profile and the inflection point of the
polarization angle swing are found to be symmetrically shifted in the opposite
directions with respect to the meridional plane in such a way that the core
shifts towards the leading side and the polarization angle inflection point
towards the trailing side. We have been able to locate the phase location of
the meridional plane and to estimate the absolute emission altitude of both the
core and the conal components relative to the neutron star centre, using the
exact expression for the A/R phase shift given by Gangadhara (2005).Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, Accepted for Publication in A&
Spark Model for Pulsar Radiation Modulation Patterns
A non-stationary polar gap model first proposed by Ruderman & Sutherland
(1975) is modified and applied to spark-associated pulsar emission at radio
wave-lengths. It is argued that under physical and geometrical conditions
prevailing above pulsar polar cap, highly non-stationary spark discharges do
not occur at random positions. Instead, sparks should tend to operate in well
determined preferred regions. At any instant the polar cap is populated as
densely as possible with a number of two-dimensional sparks with a
characteristic dimension as well as a typical distance between adjacent sparks
being about the polar gap height. Our model differs, however, markedly from its
original 'hollow cone' version. The key feature is the quasi-central spark
driven by pair production process and anchored to the local pole of a
sunspot-like surface magnetic field. This fixed spark prevents the motion of
other sparks towards the pole, restricting it to slow circumferential drift
across the planes of field lines converging at the local pole. We argue that
the polar spark constitutes the core pulsar emission, and that the annular
rings of drifting sparks contribute to conal components of the pulsar beam. We
found that the number of nested cones in the beam of typical pulsar should not
excced three; a number also found by Mitra & Deshpande (1999) using a
completely different analysis.Comment: 31 pages, 8 figures, accepted by Ap
Profile instabilities of the millisecond pulsar PSR J1022+1001
We present evidence that the integrated profiles of some millisecond pulsars
exhibit severe changes that are inconsistent with the moding phenomenon as
known from slowly rotating pulsars. We study these profile instabilities in
particular for PSR J1022+1001 and show that they occur smoothly, exhibiting
longer time constants than those associated with moding. In addition, the
profile changes of this pulsar seem to be associated with a relatively
narrow-band variation of the pulse shape. Only parts of the integrated profile
participate in this process which suggests that the origin of this phenomenon
is intrinsic to the pulsar magnetosphere and unrelated to the interstellar
medium. A polarization study rules out profile changes due to geometrical
effects produced by any sort of precession. However, changes are observed in
the circularly polarized radiation component. In total we identify four
recycled pulsars which also exhibit instabilities in the total power or
polarization profiles due to an unknown phenomenon (PSRs J1022+1001,
J1730-2304, B1821-24, J2145-0750).
The consequences for high precision pulsar timing are discussed in view of
the standard assumption that the integrated profiles of millisecond pulsars are
stable. As a result we present a new method to determine pulse times-of-arrival
that involves an adjustment of relative component amplitudes of the template
profile. Applying this method to PSR J1022+1001, we obtain an improved timing
solution with a proper motion measurement of -17 \pm 2 mas/yr in ecliptic
longitude. Assuming a distance to the pulsar as inferred from the dispersion
measure this corresponds to an one-dimensional space velocity of 50 km/s.Comment: 29 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
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