arXivDaily arXiv每日学术速递 周一至周五更新
arXiv周末暂无论文更新,休息一下吧,周末愉快~~
arXiv 1503.08491astro-ph.IMastro-ph.HEastro-ph.SR
收藏

频散测量及其对脉冲星计时的意义

Frequency-Dependent Dispersion Measures and Implications for Pulsar Timing

J. M. Cordes, R. M. Shannon, D. R. Stinebring

摘要:

本文分析了小尺度电子密度涨落的多径散射引起的脉冲星自由电子柱密度色散测度(DM)的频率依赖性。DM沿每个传播路径略有不同,并且路径的横向扩展随频率变化很大,从而产生到达时间(TOA)扰动,其尺度不同于频率的平方反比,这是冷的未磁化等离子体的预期依赖性。我们量化DM和TOA扰动分析薄相屏幕和扩展介质,并验证薄屏幕的模拟结果。距离为$\sim 1$~kpc的雷达在1.5~GHz $\sim 4\times10^{-5}\,{\rm pc\ cm^{-3}}$附近倍频程内DM之间的均方根差。对于在倍频程频带上观察到的具有DM $\lesssim 30$~pc~cm $^{-3}$的雷达,来自彩色DM的TOA误差为几纳秒到几百纳秒的量级,但是对于更大的DM和更宽的频率范围,TOA误差迅速增加到微秒或更大。频率相关DM将相关噪声引入到其功率谱在形式上为"低通"的定时残差中。相关时间的数量级为所用最高和最低射频折射时间的几何平均值,因此范围从几天到几年不等,取决于脉冲星。我们讨论的方法,使用大的频率分离或宽带接收机的定时测量的影响。通过在到达时间模型中使用额外的色项,可以部分缓解色DM。如果没有缓解,我们的研究结果提供了一个额外的术语脉冲星定时的噪声模型,他们还表明,在辐射计噪声的测量误差相结合,任意增加总频率范围(或带宽)将产生效益递减,并可能是有害的整体定时精度。

英文摘要:

We analyze the frequency dependence of the dispersion measure (DM), the column density of free electrons to a pulsar, caused by multipath scattering from small scale electron-density fluctuations. The DM is slightly different along each propagation path and the transverse spread of paths varies greatly with frequency, yielding time-of-arrival (TOA) perturbations that scale differently than the inverse square of the frequency, the expected dependence for a cold, unmagnetized plasma. We quantify DM and TOA perturbations analytically for thin phase screens and extended media and verify the results with simulations of thin screens. The rms difference between DMs across an octave band near 1.5~GHz $\sim 4\times10^{-5}\,{\rm pc\ cm^{-3}}$ for pulsars at $\sim 1$~kpc distance. TOA errors from chromatic DMs are of order a few to hundreds of nanoseconds for pulsars with DM $\lesssim 30$~pc~cm$^{-3}$ observed across an octave band but increase rapidly to microseconds or larger for larger DMs and wider frequency ranges. Frequency-dependent DMs introduce correlated noise into timing residuals whose power spectrum is `low pass' in form. The correlation time is of order the geometric mean of the refraction times for the highest and lowest radio frequencies used and thus ranges from days to years, depending on the pulsar. We discuss the implications for methodologies that use large frequency separations or wide bandwidth receivers for timing measurements. Chromatic DMs are partially mitigable by using an additional chromatic term in arrival time models. Without mitigation, our results provide an additional term in the noise model for pulsar timing; they also indicate that in combination with measurement errors from radiometer noise, an arbitrary increase in total frequency range (or bandwidth) will yield diminishing benefits and may be detrimental to overall timing precision.

机构、总结、中文摘要均由AI分析而来,可能存在错误,请以论文正文为准。

↑