Modelling annual scintillation arc variations in PSR J1643-1224 using the Large European Array for Pulsars
G. Mall, R. A. Main, J. Antoniadis, C. G. Bassa, M. Burgay, S. Chen, I. Cognard, R. Concu, A. Corongiu, M. Gaikwad, H. Hu, G. H. Janssen, R. Karuppusamy, K. J. … 展开作者
G. Mall, R. A. Main, J. Antoniadis, C. G. Bassa, M. Burgay, S. Chen, I. Cognard, R. Concu, A. Corongiu, M. Gaikwad, H. Hu, G. H. Janssen, R. Karuppusamy, K. J. Lee, K. Liu, J. W. McKee, A. Melis, M. B. Mickaliger, D. Perrodin, M. Pilia, A. Possenti, D. J. Reardon, S. A. Sanidas, T. Sprenger, B. W. Stappers, L. Wang, O. Wucknitz, W. W. Zhu
In this work we study variations in the parabolic scintillation arcs of the binary millisecond pulsar PSR J1643-1224 over five years using the Large European Array for Pulsars (LEAP). The 2D power spectrum of scintillation, called the secondary spectrum, often shows a parabolic distribution of power, where the arc curvature encodes the relative velocities and distances of the pulsar, ionised interstellar medium (IISM), and Earth. We observe a clear parabolic scintillation arc which varies in curvature throughout the year. The distribution of power in the secondary spectra are inconsistent with a single scattering screen which is fully 1D, or entirely isotropic. We fit the observed arc curvature variations with two models; an isotropic scattering screen, and a model with two independent 1D screens. We measure the distance to the scattering screen to be in the range 114-223 pc, depending on the model, consistent with the known distance of the foreground large-diameter HII region Sh 2-27 (112+/-17 pc), suggesting that it is the dominant source of scattering. We obtain only weak constraints on the pulsar's orbital inclination and angle of periastron, since the scintillation pattern is not very sensitive to the pulsar's motion, since the screen is much closer to the Earth than the pulsar. More measurements of this kind - where scattering screens can be associated with foreground objects - will help to inform the origins and distribution of scattering screens within our galaxy.
Precision Determination of Scintillation Screen Parameters from Annual Modulation Measurement of Pulsar Scintillation Arc Curvature with the FAST Telescope
South-Western Institute for Astronomy Research (SWIFAR), Yunnan University（西南天文研究所，云南大学）；Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院新疆天文台）；Key Laboratory of radio Astronomy, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院射电天文重点实验室）；Xinjiang Key Laboratory of radio Astrophysics（新疆射电天体物理重点实验室）；National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院国家天文台）；Institute for Frontiers in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Beijing Normal University（北京师范大学前沿天文与天体物理研究所）；Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院云南天文台）；Key Laboratory of Radio Astronomy and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院射电天文与技术重点实验室）
In this paper, we report our investigation of pulsar scintillation phenomena by monitoring PSR B0355$+$54 at 2.25 GHz for three successive months using \emph{Kunming 40-m radio telescope}. We have measured the dynamic spectrum, the two-dimensional correlation function, and the secondary spectrum. In those observations with high signal-to-noise ratio ($S/N\ge100$), we have detected the scintillation arcs, which are rarely observable using such a small telescope. The sub-microsecond scale width of the scintillation arc indicates that the transverse scale of structures on scattering screen is as …
We model long-term variations in the scintillation of binary pulsar PSR J1603$-$7202, observed by the 64 m Parkes radio telescope (Murriyang) between 2004 and 2016. We find that the time variation in the scintillation arc curvature is well-modelled by scattering from an anisotropic thin screen of plasma between the Earth and the pulsar. Using our scintillation model, we measure the inclination angle and longitude of ascending node of the orbit, yielding a significant improvement over the constraints from pulsar timing. From our measurement of the inclination angle, we place a lower bound on th…
We report on the simultaneous Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) and Algonquin Radio Observatory (ARO) observations at 550-750 MHz of the scintillation of PSR B1508+55, resulting in a $\sim$10,000-km baseline. This regime of measurement lies between the shorter few 100-1000~km baselines of earlier multi-station observations and the much longer earth-space baselines. We measure a scintillation cross-correlation coefficient of $0.22$, offset from zero time lag due to a $\sim 45$~s traversal time of the scintillation pattern. The scintillation time of 135~s is $3\times$ longer, ruling out iso…
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 $ν_{\rm d}$ and $τ_{…
Long-term studies of binary millisecond pulsars (MSPs) provide precise tests of strong-field gravity and can be used to measure neutron-star masses. PSR~J1909$-$3744, a binary MSP has been the subject of several pulsar timing analyses. The edge-on orbit enables measurement of its mass using the Shapiro delay; however, there is degeneracy in the sense of the inclination angle, $i$, and multiple solutions for the longitude of ascending node, $Ω$. Radio pulsars scintillate due to inhomogeneities in the ionized interstellar medium (IISM). This can result in scintillation arcs in the power spectrum…
Pulsar scintillation studies with LOFAR III. Annual variations in PSR~J0814$+$7429
State Key Laboratory of Radio Astronomy and Technology, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院国家天文台射电天文技术与重点实验室）；University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学）；Institute for Frontier in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Beijing Normal University（北京师范大学前沿交叉科学研究院）；Fakultät für Physik, Universität Bielefeld（比勒费尔德大学物理学院）；CAS Key Laboratory of FAST, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院FAST国家天文台）；Guizhou Radio Astronomical Observatory, Guizhou University（贵州大学贵州天文台）；National Centre for Radio Astrophysics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research（印度基础研究所国家射电天文中心）
Context. Pulsars scintillate. Dynamic spectra show brightness variation of pulsars in the time and frequency domain. Secondary spectra demonstrate the distribution of fluctuation power in the dynamic spectra. Aims. Dynamic spectra strongly depend on observational frequencies, but were often observed at frequencies lower than 1.5 GHz. Scintillation observations at higher frequencies help to constrain the turbulence feature of the interstellar medium over a wide frequency range and can detect the scintillations of more distant pulsars. Methods. Ten pulsars were observed at 2250 MHz (S-band) with…
Interstellar Scintillation of Three Nearby Pulsars with FAST
School of Physics and Electronic Science, Guizhou Normal University（贵州师范大学物理与电子科学学院）；State Key Laboratory of Radio Astronomy and Technology, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院国家天文台射电天文与技术重点实验室）；CAS Key Laboratory of FAST, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院国家天文台FAST重点实验室）；Guizhou Radio Astronomical Observatory, Guizhou University（贵州大学贵州天文观测站）；University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学）；Guizhou University（贵州大学）
PKS B1322-110 is a radio quasar that is located only 8.5' in angular separation from the bright B star Spica. It exhibits intra-day variability in its flux density at GHz frequencies attributed to scintillations from plasma inhomogeneities. We have tracked the rate of scintillation of this source for over a year with the Australia Telescope Compact Array, recording a strong annual cycle that includes a near-standstill in August and another in December. The cycle is consistent with scattering by highly anisotropic plasma microstructure, and we fit our data to that model in order to determine th…
Interstellar scattering (ISS) of radio pulsar emission can be used as a probe of the ionised interstellar medium (IISM) and causes corruptions in pulsar timing experiments. Two types of ISS phenomena (intensity scintillation and pulse broadening) are caused by electron density fluctuations on small scales (< 0.01 AU). Theory predicts that these are related, and both have been widely employed to study the properties of the IISM. Larger scales ($\sim$1-100\,AU) cause measurable changes in dispersion and these can be correlated with ISS observations to estimate the fluctuation spectrum over a ver…
We have observed the relativistic binary pulsar PSR J1141$-$6545 over a period of $\sim$6 years using the Parkes 64 m radio telescope, with a focus on modelling the diffractive intensity scintillations to improve the accuracy of the astrometric timing model. The long-term scintillation, which shows orbital and annual variations, allows us to measure parameters that are difficult to measure with pulsar timing alone. These include: the orbital inclination $i$; the longitude of the ascending node $Ω$; and the pulsar system transverse velocity. We use the annual variations to resolve the previous …
High sensitivity interstellar scintillation and polarization observations of PSR~B0656+14 made at three epochs over a year using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) show that the scattering is dominated by two different compact regions. We identify the one nearer to the pulsar with the shell of the Monogem Ring, thereby confirming the association. The other is probably associated with the Local Bubble. We find that the observed position angles of the pulsar spin axis and the space velocity are significantly different, with a separation of $19\fdg3\pm$0\fdg8, incons…
Imaging without visibilities: FAST-Effelsberg scintillometry of PSR B1508+55
Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie（马克斯·普朗克射电天文研究所）；South-Western Institute for Astronomy Research (SWIFAR), Yunnan University（西南天文学研究所（SWIFAR），云南大学）；McGill University（麦吉尔大学）
Using data from the Large European Array for Pulsars (LEAP), and the Effelsberg telescope, we study the scintillation parameters of the millisecond pulsar J0613-0200 over a 7 year timespan. The "secondary spectrum" -- the 2D power spectrum of scintillation -- presents the scattered power as a function of time delay, and contains the relative velocities of the pulsar, observer, and scattering material. We detect a persistent parabolic scintillation arc, suggesting scattering is dominated by a thin, anisotropic region. The scattering is poorly described by a simple exponential tail, with excess …
A Pilot Study of Mildly Recycled Pulsars: A Case Study of PSR J2338+4818
College of Physics, Guizhou University（贵州大学物理学院）；Institute for Frontiers in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Beijing Normal University（北京师范大学天文与前沿科学研究院）；School of Physics and Astronomy, Beijing Normal University（北京师范大学物理与天文学院）；Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院上海天文台）；School of Astronomy and Space Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学天文与空间科学学院）；International Centre of Supernovae, Yunnan Key Laboratory（云南省超新星国际研究中心）；Guizhou Radio Astronomical Observatory, Guizhou University（贵州大学贵州射电天文台）；National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院国家天文台）；College of Astronomy and Space Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学天文与空间科学学院）
We report on an {unusually} bright observation of PSR J1720$-$0533 using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST). The pulsar is in a black widow system that {was discovered by the Commensal Radio Astronomy FAST Survey (CRAFTS). By coincidence, a bright scintillation maximum was simultaneous with the eclipse in our observation which allowed for precise measurements of flux density variations, as well as dispersion measure (DM) and polarization.} We found that there are quasi-periodic pulse emission variations with a modulation period of $\sim$ {22\,s} during the ingress…
We present the detection of 107 pulsars with interstellar scintillation arcs at 856--1712\,MHz, observed with the MeerKAT Thousand Pulsar Array Programme. Scintillation arcs appear to be ubiquitous in clean, high S/N observations, their detection mainly limited by short observing durations and coarse frequency channel resolution. This led the survey to be sensitive to nearby, lightly scattered pulsars with high effective velocity -- from a large proper motion, a screen nearby the pulsar, or a screen near the Earth. We measure the arc curvatures in all of our sources, which can be used to give …
Pulses from 16 previously known rotating radio transients (RRAT) have been searched at the 110 MHz daily monitor program for 4 to 5.5 years by using the Large-Phased-Array (LPA) at Pushchino. The total number of pulses detected in such a long observation interval is only 90 pulses for RRAT J0640+07 or is as high as 10,751 pulses for RRAT J0302+22. The number and amplitude of pulses varies at a time-scales from six to twenty months for RRATs J1336+33, J1404+11, J1848+15, J2051+12, J2105+22, and the pulse number can increase by one or two orders of magnitude in active phases. The long-term trend…
We report on observations of PSR B1508+55's scintillation at the Effelsberg 100-m telescope spanning from early 2020 to early 2022. In the autumn of 2020, close to the time the pulsar was predicted to cross echoes in its pulse profile, a sudden transition in the scintillation arcs from peculiar stripe-like features to parabolic arclets was observed. To infer a geometric model of the scattering we measure the effects of the annual velocity curve of Earth, of the relative movement of the line of sight, and of the projection of points on a second scattering screen and develop novel methods to do …
The Argentine Institute of Radio astronomy (IAR) is equipped with two single-dish 30-m radio antennas capable of performing daily observations of pulsars and radio transients in the southern hemisphere at 1.4 GHz. We aim to contribute to pulsar timing studies related to short time-scale interstellar scintillation and searches for sources of continuous gravitational waves. We performed high-cadence (almost daily) and long-duration observations of the bright millisecond pulsar J0437$-$4715 for over a year, gathering more than 700 hours of good-quality data with timing precision better than 1~$μ$…
Scintillation of compact radio sources results from the interference between images caused by multipath propagation, and probes the intervening scattering plasma and the velocities of the emitting source and scattering screen. In FRB20201124A, a repeating fast radio burst (FRB) which entered a period of extreme activity, we obtained many burst detections in observations at the upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (uGMRT) and the Effelsberg 100\,m Radio Telescope. Bursts nearby in time show similar scintillation patterns, and we measure a scintillation timescale of $14.3\pm1.2$\,min and $7\…
We have measured the scintillation properties of 151 young, energetic pulsars with the Parkes radio telescope and have identified two extreme scattering events (ESEs). Towards PSR J1057-5226 we discovered a three-year span of strengthened scattering during which the variability in flux density and the scintillation bandwidth decreased markedly. The transverse size of the scattering region is ~23 au, and strong flux density enhancement before and after the ESE may arise from refractive focusing. Long observations reveal scintillation arcs characteristic of interference between rays scattered at…
Texas Tech University（德州理工大学）；Green Bank Observatory（格林班克天文台）；University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez（波多黎各大学马亚圭斯分校）；University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill（北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校）；West Virginia University（西弗吉尼亚大学）
本文介绍了对一颗正常周期脉冲星PSR B 0950 +08巨脉冲辐射的探测。在103兆赫的观测中，持续了大约10个月，在许多天里，巨脉冲的出现频率是已知的恒星中最高的。连续巨脉冲的通量密度水平波动迅速，它们的出现率在一天的观测之内以及相邻几天之间表现出很大的变化。虽然在某些日子PSR B 0950 +08显示了大量的巨脉冲，但在其他日子，它只显示了“准零”，在功率谱或折叠脉冲数据中没有可检测到的发射。这些巨脉冲的累积强度分布似乎遵循幂律，指数为-2.2。在排除仪器、电离层、行星际和星际衍射和折射闪烁效应作为原因后，这些强度变化似乎是脉冲星固有的。我们认为巨脉冲发射和零化可能是同一物理过程的相反表现，在前一种情况下，参与相干辐射过程的电荷数量增加，从而产生极高的强度，而在后一种情况下，相干性可能是最小的。
We propose a new method to detect off-pulse (unpulsed and/or continuous) emission from pulsars, using the intensity modulations associated with interstellar scintillation. Our technique involves obtaining the dynamic spectra, separately for on-pulse window and off-pulse region, with time and frequency resolutions to properly sample the intensity variations due to diffractive scintillation, and then estimating their mutual correlation as a measure of off-pulse emission, if any. We describe and illustrate the essential details of this technique with the help of simulations, as well as real data.…
The interstellar medium hosts a population of scattering screens, most of unknown origin. Scintillation studies of pulsars provides a sensitive tool for resolving these scattering screens and a means of measuring their properties. In this paper, we report our analysis of 34 years of Arecibo observations of PSR B1133+16, from which we have obtained high-quality dynamic spectra and their associated scintillation arcs, arising from the scattering screens located along the line of sight to the pulsar. We have identified six individual scattering screens that are responsible for the observed scinti…
The FAST Discovery of a binary millisecond pulsar PSR~J1647-0156B (M12B) with a candidate cross matching algorithm
College of Physics, Guizhou University（贵州大学物理学院）；Guizhou Vocational College of Foodstuff Engineering（贵州食品工程职业学院）；Shanghai Astronomy Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院上海天文台）；School of Astronomy and Space Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学天文与空间科学学院）；National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院国家天文台）；Guizhou Radio Astronomical Observatory, Guizhou University（贵州大学贵州射电天文台）；Key Laboratory of Radio Astronomy, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院射电天文重点实验室）
Single-Pulse Correlations in PSR B0329+54: Implications for Radio Emission Zones
National Chung Hsing University（中兴大学）；Academia Sinica（中央研究院）；National Tsing Hua University（清华大学）；National Centre for Radio Astrophysics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research（塔塔基础研究所国家射电天体物理学中心）；National Astronomical Observatory of Japan（日本国立天文台）；The Australian National University（澳大利亚国立大学）；Swinburne University of Technology（斯威本科技大学）
The Green Bank North Celestial Cap (GBNCC) survey is a 350-MHz all-sky survey for pulsars and fast radio transients using the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope. To date, the survey has discovered over 190 pulsars, including 33 millisecond pulsars (MSPs) and 24 rotating radio transients(RRATs). Several exotic pulsars have been discovered in the survey, including PSR J1759+5036, a binary pulsar with a 176-ms spin period in an orbit with a period of 2.04 days, an eccentricity of 0.3,and a projected semi-major axis of 6.8 light seconds. Using seven years of timing data, we are able to measure on…
PSR J0540$-$6919 is the second-most energetic radio pulsar known and resides in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Like the Crab pulsar it is observed to emit giant radio pulses (GPs). We used the newly-commissioned PTUSE instrument on the MeerKAT radio telescope to search for GPs across three observations. In a total integration time of 5.7 hrs we detected 865 pulses above our 7$σ$ threshold. With full polarisation information for a subset of the data, we estimated the Faraday rotation measure, $\rm{RM}=-245.8 \pm 1.0$ rad m$^{-2}$ toward the pulsar. The brightest of these pulses is $\sim$ 60% linea…
PSR B0950+08 is a bright non-recycled pulsar whose single-pulse fluence variability is reportedly large. Based on observations at two widely separated frequencies, 55 MHz (NenuFAR) and 1.4 GHz (Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope), we review the properties of these single pulses. We conclude that they are more similar to ordinary pulses of radio emission than to a special kind of short and bright Giant Pulses, observed from only a handful of pulsars. We argue that temporal variation of properties of interstellar medium along the line of sight to this nearby pulsar, namely the fluctuating size…
