Discovery and timing of pulsars in the globular cluster M13 with FAST
Lin Wang, Bo Peng, B. W. Stappers, Kuo Liu, M. J. Keith, A. G. Lyne, Jiguang Lu, Ye-Zhao Yu, Feifei Kou, Jun Yan, Peng Jiang, Chengjin Jin, Di Li, Qi Li, Lei Qi… 展开作者
Lin Wang, Bo Peng, B. W. Stappers, Kuo Liu, M. J. Keith, A. G. Lyne, Jiguang Lu, Ye-Zhao Yu, Feifei Kou, Jun Yan, Peng Jiang, Chengjin Jin, Di Li, Qi Li, Lei Qian, Qiming Wang, Youling Yue, Haiyan Zhang, Shuxin Zhang, Yan Zhu
备注：
12 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ
We report the discovery of a binary millisecond pulsar (namely PSR J1641+3627F or M13F) in the globular cluster M13 (NGC 6205) and timing solutions of M13A to F using observations made with the Five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST). PSR J1641+3627F has a spin period of 3.00 ms and an orbital period of 1.4 days. The most likely companion mass is 0.16 M$_{\odot}$. M13A to E all have short spin periods and small period derivatives. We also confirm that the binary millisecond pulsar PSR J1641$+$3627E (also M13E) is a black widow with a companion mass around 0.02 M$_{\odot}$. We find that all the binary systems have low eccentricities compared to those typical for globular cluster pulsars and that they decrease with distance from the cluster core. This is consistent with what is expected as this cluster has a very low encounter rate per binary.
We present the discovery of 24 pulsars in 15 Globular Clusters (GCs) using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST). These include the first pulsar discoveries in M2, M10, and M14. Most of the new systems are either confirmed or likely members of binary systems. M53C, NGC6517H and I are the only three pulsars confirmed to be isolated. M14A is a black widow pulsar with an orbital period of 5.5 hours and a minimum companion mass of 0.016 \Ms. M14E is an eclipsing binary pulsar with an orbital period of 20.3 hours. With the other 8 discoveries that have been reported elsew…
We aim to resolve a misunderstanding about whether the so-called "Earth term" in the pulsar timing response to a gravitational wave is in phase among a set of pulsars. We note that the misunderstanding has potentially arisen from the statements that the Earth term is "coherent" or "builds up coherently" among the pulsars. We clarify what authors mean by "coherent" in these statements, pointing out that "coherent" does not indicate that the Earth terms are in phase among the pulsars. Using the pulsar timing residuals induced by a continuous gravitational wave, we show that the Earth term does n…
We report the Fermi Large Area Telescope detection of gamma-ray (>100 megaelectronvolts) pulsations from pulsar J1823-3021A in the globular cluster NGC 6624 with high significance (~7 sigma). Its gamma-ray luminosity L_gamma = (8.4 +/- 1.6) x10^34 ergs per second, is the highest observed for any millisecond pulsar (MSP) to date, and it accounts for most of the cluster emission. The non-detection of the cluster in the off-pulse phase implies that its contains < 32 gamma-ray MSPs, not ~100 as previously estimated. The gamma-ray luminosity indicates that the unusually large rate of change of its …
Globular clusters are known to harbour a significant population of neutron star X-ray binaries that could be responsible for delaying the inevitable core collapse of these dense clusters. As a result, their progeny, namely millisecond pulsars, are also present in large numbers. Following the confirmation using the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope that millisecond pulsars are indeed gamma-ray emitters, we report on the detection of the Galactic globular cluster 47 Tuc with the Fermi Large Area Telescope. This is the first detection of a Galactic globular cluster in the gamma-ray domain. The gamm…
Globular clusters may host intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) at their centres. Here we propose a new method for their identification using millisecond pulsars (MSPs) as probes. We show that measuring the first (jerk) and second (jounce) derivatives of the accelerations of an ensemble of MSPs will let us infer the presence of an IMBH in a globular cluster better than measuring the sole accelerations. We test this concept by simulating a set of star clusters with and without a central IMBH to extract the distributions of the stellar jerks and jounces. We then apply this technique to the ense…
The sensitivity of pulsar timing arrays to gravitational waves is, at some level, limited by timing noise. Red timing noise - the stochastic wandering of pulse arrival times with a red spectrum - is prevalent in slow-spinning pulsars and has been identified in many millisecond pulsars. Phenomenological models of timing noise, such as from superfluid turbulence, suggest that the timing noise spectrum plateaus below some critical frequency, $f_c$, potentially aiding the hunt for gravitational waves. We examine this effect for individual pulsars by calculating minimum observation times, $T_{\rm m…
It has been suggested that the GeV excess, observed from the region surrounding the Galactic Center, might originate from a population of millisecond pulsars that formed in globular clusters. With this in mind, we employ the publicly available Fermi data to study the gamma-ray emission from 157 globular clusters, identifying a statistically significant signal from 25 of these sources (ten of which are not found in existing gamma-ray catalogs). We combine these observations with the predicted pulsar formation rate based on the stellar encounter rate of each globular cluster to constrain the gam…
Based on MAGIC observations from June and July 2007, we present upper limits to the E>140 GeV emission from the globular cluster M13. Those limits allow us to constrain the population of millisecond pulsars within M13 and to test models for acceleration of leptons inside their magnetospheres and/or surrounding. We conclude that in M13 either millisecond pulsars are fewer than expected or they accelerate leptons less efficiently than predicted.
Resluts of 3D numerical simulations in the framework of pair starved polar cap model (PSPC) for millisecond pulsars are presented. In the investigated PSPC model electric field structure highly depends on the pulsar inclination which is clearly visible in the computed spectra of electrons escaping pulsar magnetosphere which become bimodal with the increasing inclination. This is an important result for modelling very high energy radiation from globular clusters where currently the standard power law or monoenergetic electron distributions are used.
Globular clusters are known to host an unusually large population of millisecond pulsar when compared to the Galactic disk. This is thanks to the high rate of dynamical encounters occurring in the clusters that can create the conditions to efficiently recycle neutron stars into millisecond pulsars. The result is a rich population of pulsars with properties and companions difficult or impossible to replicate in the Galactic disk. For these reasons, globular clusters have been and still are a prime target of searches for new and exciting pulsars. Because of their large distances, the limiting fa…
Up to November 2022, 267 pulsars have been discovered in 36 globular clusters (GCs). In this paper, we present our studies on the distribution of GC pulsar parameters and the detection efficiency. The power law relation between the average of dispersion measure ($\overline{\rm DM}$) and dispersion measure difference ($Δ{\rm DM}$) of known pulsars in GCs is $\lgΔ{\rm DM} \propto 1.52 \lg \overline{\rm DM}$. The sensitivity could be the key to find more pulsars. As a result, several years after the construction of a radio telescope, the GC pulsar number will be increased accordingly. We suggest …
We have systematically studied the X-ray emission properties of globular cluster millisecond pulsars in order to evaluate their spectral properties and luminosities in a uniform way. Cross-correlating the radio timing positions of the cluster pulsars with the high resolution Chandra images revealed 31 X-ray counterparts identified in nine different globular cluster systems, including those in 47 Tuc. Timing analysis has been performed for all sources corresponding to the temporal resolution available in the archival Chandra data. Making use of unpublished data on M28, M4 and NGC 6752 allowed u…
Globular clusters are source of gamma-ray radiation. At GeV energies, their emission is attributed to magnetospheric activity of millisecond pulsars residing in the clusters. Inverse Compton scattering of ambient photon fields on relativistic particles diffusing through cluster environment is thought to be the source of GeV-TeV emission of globular clusters. Using pair starved polar cap model gamma-ray emission from synthetic millisecond pulsar was modelled. In addition to pulsar emission characteristics, the synthetic pulsar model yielded spectra of electrons escaping pulsar magnetosphere. To…
The globular cluster Omega Centauri is the most massive and luminous cluster in the Galaxy. The $γ$-ray source FL8Y J1326.7$-$4729 is coincident with the core of the cluster, leading to speculation that hitherto unknown radio pulsars or annihilating dark matter may be present in the cluster core. Here we report on the discovery of five millisecond pulsars in Omega Centauri following observations with the Parkes radio telescope. Four of these pulsars are isolated with spin periods of 4.1, 4.2, 4.6 and 6.8 ms. The fifth has a spin period of 4.8 ms and is in an eclipsing binary system with an orb…
Pulsars are remarkably precise "celestial clocks" that can be used to explore many different aspects of physics and astrophysics. In this article I give a brief summary of pulsar properties and describe some of the applications of pulsar timing, including tests of theories of gravitation, efforts to detect low-frequency gravitational waves using pulsar timing arrays and establishment a "pulsar timescale".
Globular clusters are highly efficient radio pulsar factories. These pulsars can be used as precision probes of the clusters' structure, gas content, magnetic field, and formation history; some of them are also highly interesting in their own right because they probe exotic stellar evolution scenarios as well as the physics of dense matter, accretion, and gravity. Deep searches with SKA1-MID and SKA1-LOW will plausibly double to triple the known population. Such searches will only require one to a few tied-array beams, and can be done during early commissioning of the telescope - before an all…
The stellar encounter rate Gamma has been shown to be strongly correlated with the number of X-ray binaries in clusters and also to the number of radio pulsars. However, the pulsar populations in different clusters show remarkably different characteristics: in some GCs the population is dominated by binary systems, in others by single pulsars and exotic systems that result from exchange encounters. In this paper, we describe a second dynamical parameter for globular clusters, the encounter rate for a single binary, gamma. We find that this parameter provides a good characterization of the diff…
Millisecond pulsars are intrinsically very stable clocks and precise measurement of their observed pulse periods can be used to study a wide variety of astrophysical phenomena. In particular, observations of a large sample of millisecond pulsars at regular intervals, constituting a Pulsar Timing Array (PTA), can be used as a detector of low-frequency gravitational waves and to establish a standard of time independent of terrestrial atomic timescales. Three major timing array projects have been established: The European Pulsar Timing Array (EPTA), the North American pulsar timing array (NANOGra…
Highly precise pulsar timing is very important for understanding the nature of a neutron star, and it can even be used to detect gravitational waves. Unfortunately, the accuracy of the pulsar timing is seriously affected by the spin-down irregularities of pulsars.
The Galactic magnetic field plays an important role in the evolution of the Galaxy, but its small-scale behaviour is still poorly known. It is also unknown whether it permeates the halo of the Galaxy or not. By using observations of pulsars in the halo globular cluster 47 Tucanae, we probed the Galactic magnetic field at arcsecond scales for the first time and discovered an unexpected large gradient in the component of the magnetic field parallel to the line of sight. This gradient is aligned with a direction perpendicular to the Galactic disk and could be explained by magnetic fields amplifie…
We have searched for millisecond pulsars (MSPs) in two globular clusters detected by the Fermi Large Area Telescope. These clusters contained no known MSPs prior to their detections in gamma rays. The discovery of gamma ray emission from many MSPs and the prevalence of MSPs in globular clusters points to a population of MSPs as the likely source of the detected GeV emission, directing our search for new cluster MSPs. We observed NGC 6652 and NGC 6388 at 2 GHz with the Green Bank Ultimate Pulsar Processing Instrument pulsar backend at the Green Bank Telescope using the coherent dedispersion mod…
We report optical modulation of the companion to the X-ray source U18 in the globular cluster NGC 6397. U18, with combined evidence from radio and X-ray measurements, is a strong candidate as the second redback in this cluster, initially missed in pulsar searches. This object is a bright variable star with an anomalous red color and optical variability (\sim 0.2 mag in amplitude) with a periodicity \sim 1.96 days that can be interpreted as the orbital period. This value corresponds to the longest orbital period for known redback candidates and confirmed systems in Galactic globular clusters an…
Globular clusters contain a unique pulsar population, with many exotic systems that can form only in their dense stellar environments. The leap in sensitivity of the upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (uGMRT) in India, especially at low radio frequencies ($<$ 1 GHz) has motivated a new search for radio pulsars in a group of eight Southern globular clusters. We discovered PSR J1835$-$3259B, a 1.83-ms pulsar in NGC 6652; this is in a near-circular wide orbit of 28.7 hr with a low-mass ($ \sim 0.2 \, M_{\rm \odot}$) companion, likely a Helium white dwarf. We derived a 10-year timing solutio…
We have carried out a sensitive radio pulsar survey along the northern Galactic plane ($50^{\circ} < l < 60^{\circ}$ and $|b| \lapp 2^{\circ}$) using the Parkes 20-cm multibeam system. We observed each position for 70-min on two separate epochs. Our analyses to date have so far resulted in the detection of 32 pulsars, of which 17 were previously unknown. Here we summarize the observations and analysis and present the timing observations of 11 pulsars and discovery parameters for a further 6 pulsars. We also present a timing solution for the 166-ms bursting pulsar, PSR~J1938+2213, previously di…
We present an overview of precise pulsar timing using data from the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on Fermi. We describe the analysis techniques including a maximum likelihood method for determining pulse times of arrival from unbinned photon data. In addition to determining the spindown behavior of the pulsars and detecting glitches and timing noise, such timing analyses allow the precise determination of the pulsar position, thus enabling detailed multiwavelength follow up.
The recent Fermi detection of the globular cluster (GC) 47 Tucanae highlighted the importance of modeling collective gamma-ray emission of millisecond pulsars (MSPs) in GCs. Steady flux from such populations is also expected in the very high energy (VHE) domain covered by ground-based Cherenkov telescopes. We present pulsed curvature radiation (CR) as well as unpulsed inverse Compton (IC) calculations for an ensemble of MSPs in the GCs 47 Tucanae and Terzan 5. We demonstrate that the CR from these GCs should be easily detectable for Fermi, while constraints on the total number of MSPs and the …
Though pulsars spin regularly, the differences between the observed and predicted ToA (time of arrival), known as "timing noise", can still reach a few milliseconds or more. We try to understand the noise in this paper. As proposed by Xu & Qiao in 2001, both dipole radiation and particle emission would result in pulsar braking. Accordingly, possible fluctuation of particle current flow is suggested here to contribute significant ToA variation of pulsars. We find that the particle emission fluctuation could lead to timing noise which can't be eliminated in timing process, and that a longer peri…
The luminosity distribution of Galactic radio pulsars is believed to be log-normal in form. Applying this functional form to populations of pulsars in globular clusters, we employ Bayesian methods to explore constraints on the mean and standard deviation of the function, as well as the total number of pulsars in the cluster. Our analysis is based on an observed number of pulsars down to some limiting flux density, measurements of flux densities of individual pulsars, as well as diffuse emission from the direction of the cluster. We apply our analysis to Terzan 5 and demonstrate, under reasonab…
We investigate the impact of intrinsic, kinematic and gravitational effects on high precision pulsar timing. We present an analytical derivation and a numerical computation of the impact of these effects on the first and second derivative of the pulsar spin frequency. In addition, in the presence of white noise, we derive an expression to determine the expected measurement uncertainty of a second derivative of the spin frequency for a given timing precision, observing cadence and timing baseline and find that it strongly depends on the latter ($\propto t^{-7/2}$). We show that for pulsars with…
Young pulsars deviate from a perfectly regular spin-down by two non-deterministic phenomena: impulsive glitches and timing noise. Both phenomena are interesting per se, and may provide insights into the superfluid properties of neutron stars, but they also act as a barrier to high-precision pulsar timing and gravitational wave experiments. We study a minimal stochastic model to describe the spin-down of a multicomponent neutron star, with fluctuations in both the internal and external torques. The power spectral density and timing noise strength of this kind of model can be obtained analytical…
We present a principal component analysis method which tracks and compensates for short-timescale variability in pulsar profiles, with a goal of improving pulsar timing precision. We couple this with a fast likelihood technique for determining pulse time of arrival, marginalizing over the principal component amplitudes. This allows accurate estimation of timing errors in the presence of pulsar variability. We apply the algorithm to the slow pulsar PSR J2139+0040 using an archived set of untargeted raster-scan observations at arbitrary epochs across four years, obtaining an improved timing solu…
A pulsar timing array (PTA) refers to a program of regular, high-precision timing observations of a widely distributed array of millisecond pulsars. Here we review the status of the three primary PTA projects and the joint International Pulsar Timing Array project. We discuss current results related to ultra-low-frequency gravitational wave searches and highlight opportunities for the near future.
We have used the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope to time nine previously known pulsars without published timing solutions in the globular clusters M62, NGC 6544, and NGC 6624. We have full timing solutions that measure the spin, astrometric, and (where applicable) binary parameters for six of these pulsars. The remaining three pulsars (reported here for the first time) were not detected enough to establish solutions. We also report our timing solutions for five pulsars with previously published solutions, and find good agreement with past authors, except for PSR J1701-3006B in M62. Gas in …
We have constructed timing solutions for 81 gamma-ray pulsars covering more than five years of Fermi data. The sample includes 37 radio-quiet or radio-faint pulsars which cannot be timed with other telescopes. These timing solutions and the corresponding pulse times of arrival are prerequisites for further study, e.g. phase-resolved spectroscopy or searches for mode switches. Many gamma-ray pulsars are strongly affected by timing noise, and we present a new method for characterizing the noise process and mitigating its effects on other facets of the timing model. We present an analysis of timi…
We present the timing of the first five millisecond pulsars discovered in the globular cluster Omega Centauri and the discovery of a pulsar with a spin period of 3.68 ms. With a timing baseline of $\sim$3.5 yr we are able to measure the derivative of the spin frequency ($\dotν$) for the first five pulsars. Upper limits on the pulsar line-of-sight acceleration are estimated and compared with predictions based on analytical models of the cluster. We find that PSRs J1326$-$4728B and D show large negative accelerations, which are in tension with the minimum acceleration predicted by analytical mod…
We report the discovery of three new pulsars in the Globular Cluster (GC) NGC6517, namely NGC 6517 E, F, and G, made with the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST). The spin periods of NGC 6517 E, F, and G are 7.60~ms, 24.89~ms, and 51.59~ms, respectively. Their dispersion measures are 183.29, 183.713, and 185.3~pc~cm$^{-3}$, respectively, all slightly larger than those of the previously known pulsars in this cluster. The spin period derivatives are at the level of 1$\times$10$^{-18}$~s~s$^{-1}$, which suggests these are recycled pulsars. In addition to the discovery of …
We examine timing noise in both magnetars and regular pulsars, and find that there exists a component of the timing noise with strong magnetic field dependence above B ~ 10^{12.5} G. The dependence of the timing noise floor on the magnetic field is also reflected in the smallest observable glitch size. We find that magnetospheric torque variation cannot explain this component of timing noise. We calculate the moment of inertia of the magnetic field outside of a neutron star and show that this timing noise component may be due to variation of this moment of inertia, and could be evidence of rap…
We investigate pulsar timing residuals due to the coupling effect of the pulsar transverse acceleration and the R$\rm{\ddot{o}}$mer delay. The effect is relatively small and usually negligible. Only for pulsars in globular clusters, it is possibly important. The maximum residual amplitude, which is from the pulsar near the surface of the core of the cluster, is about tens nanoseconds, and may hardly be identified for most of the globular clusters currently. However, an intermediate-mass black hole in the centre of a cluster can increase apparently the timing residual magnitudes. Particularly f…
Gravitational scattering events, in which the path of an interstellar object is deflected by a pulsar or the solar system, give rise to reflex motion which can potentially be detected using pulsar timing. We determine the form of the timing signal expected from a gravitational scattering event, which is ramp-like and resembles the signal produced by a glitch or a gravitational wave burst with memory (BWM), and investigate the prospects for detecting such a signal using a pulsar timing array. The level of timing precision currently achieved for some millisecond pulsars makes it possible to dete…
We have used the Nanshan 25-m Radio Telescope at Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory to obtain timing observations of 87 pulsars from 2002 July to 2014 March. Using the "Cholesky" timing analysis method we have determined positions and proper motions for 48 pulsars, 24 of which are improved positions compared to previously published values. We also present the first published proper motions for nine pulsars and improved proper motions for 21 pulsars using pulsar timing and position comparison method. The pulsar rotation parameters are derived and are more accurate than previously published value…
Radio timing observations of a millisecond pulsar in orbit around the Galactic centre black hole (BH) or a BH at the centre of globular clusters could answer foundational questions in astrophysics and fundamental physics. Pulsar radio astronomy typically employs the post-Keplerian approximation to determine the system parameters. However, in the strong gravitational field around the central BH, higher order relativistic effects may become important. We compare the pulsar timing delays given by the post-Keplerian approximation with those given by a relativistic timing model. We find significant…
To successfully detect gravitational waves with pulsar timing arrays, we need to have a comprehensive understanding of the physical origins and statistical characteristics of the noise in pulse arrival times and identify mitigation methods to reduce the noise. In this paper we will review radiometer noise, phase jitter noise and timing noise in the noise budget of pulsar timing and show various efforts used to reduce them. We will briefly discuss the results of an overall assessment of the components and physical causes of the timing residuals for millisecond pulsars in the North American Nano…
The smooth spin-down of young pulsars is perturbed by two non-deterministic phenomenon, glitches and timing noise. Although the timing noise provides insights into nuclear and plasma physics at extreme densities, it acts as a barrier to high-precision pulsar timing experiments. An improved methodology based on Bayesian inference is developed to simultaneously model the stochastic and deterministic parameters for a sample of 85 high-$\dot{E}$ radio pulsars observed for $\sim$ 10 years with the 64-m Parkes radio telescope. Timing noise is known to be a red process and we develop a parametrizatio…
While pulsars possess exceptional rotational stability, large scale timing studies have revealed at least two distinct types of irregularities in their rotation: red timing noise and glitches. Using modern Bayesian techniques, we investigated the timing noise properties of 300 bright southern-sky radio pulsars that have been observed over 1.0-4.8 years by the upgraded Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope (MOST). We reanalysed the spin and spin-down changes associated with nine previously reported pulsar glitches, report the discovery of three new glitches and four unusual glitch-like event…
We investigate the capability of pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) as a probe of primordial black holes (PBHs), which might constitute the Galactic dark matter. A PBH passing nearby the Earth or a pulsar gives an impulse acceleration and induces residuals on otherwise orderly pulsar timing data. We show that the timing residuals induced at pulsars are optimal for searching heavier PBHs than those at the Earth, and the two probes are highly complemental. Future facilities like SKA could detect PBHs with masses around 10^(22-28) g even if only a small fraction (< 1%) of the Galactic dark matter consis…
Neutron stars are thought to be born rapidly rotating and then exhibit a phase of a rotation-powered pulsations as they slow down to 1-10 s periods. The significant population of millisecond pulsars observed in our Galaxy is explained by the recycling concept: during an epoch of accretion from a donor star in a binary system, the neutron star is spun up to millisecond periods. However, only a few pulsars are observed during this recycling process, with relatively high rotational frequencies. Here we report the detection of an X-ray pulsar with $P_{\rm spin} = 1.20$ s in the globular cluster B0…
Radio pulsars are often used as clocks in a wide variety of experiments. Imperfections in the clock, known as timing noise, have the potential to reduce the significance of, or even thwart e.g. the attempt to find a stochastic gravitational wave (GW) background. We measure the timing noise in a group of 129 mostly middle-aged pulsars (i.e. characterstic ages near 1~Myr) observed with the Parkes radio telescope on a monthly basis since 2014. We examine four different metrics for timing noise, but it remains unclear which, if any, provides the best determination. In spite of this, it is evident …
The main goal of pulsar timing array experiments is to detect correlated signals such as nanohertz-frequency gravitational waves. Pulsar timing data collected in dense monitoring campaigns can also be used to study the stars themselves, their binary companions, and the intervening ionised interstellar medium. Timing observations are extraordinarily sensitive to changes in path length between the pulsar and the Earth, enabling precise measurements of the pulsar positions, distances and velocities, and the shapes of their orbits. Here we present a timing analysis of 25 pulsars observed as part o…
Pulsar Timing Arrays use a set of millisecond pulsars in an attempt to directly detect nanohertz gravitational waves. For this purpose, high precision timing of the pulsars is essential and ultimately a precision of the order of ~100 ns is required. Propagation effects in the interstellar medium cause the radio emission from a pulsar to be dispersed and scattered, introducing time variable delays of the pulses on their way to Earth. If these delays are not properly corrected for, they may cause significant errors in the timing analysis of a pulsar. These proceedings will review the effects of …
