Discovery of 10 pulsars in an Arecibo drift-scan survey

We present the results of a 430-MHz survey for pulsars conducted during the upgrade to the 305-m Arecibo radio telescope. Our survey covered a total of 1147 deg² of sky using a drift-scan technique. We detected 33 pulsars, 10 of which were not known prior to the survey observations. The highlight of the new discoveries is PSR J0407+1607, which has a spin period of 25.7 ms, a characteristic age of 1.5 Gyr and is in a 1.8-yr orbit about a low-mass  (>0.2 M_⊙)  companion. The long orbital period and small eccentricity  ( e = 0.0009)  make the binary system an important new addition to the ensemble of binary pulsars suitable to test for violations of the strong equivalence principle. We also report on our initially unsuccessful attempts to detect optically the companion to J0407+1607, which imply that its absolute visual magnitude is >12.1. If, as expected on evolutionary grounds, the companion is an He white dwarf, our non-detection implies a cooling age of least 1 Gyr.     

Periodic nulls in the pulsar B1133+16

Numerous studies of the brightest Cambridge pulsar, B1133+16, have revealed little order in its individual pulses, apart from a weak 30-odd-rotation-period fluctuation feature and that some 15 per cent of the star's pulsars are 'nulls'. New Arecibo observations confirm this fluctuation feature and that it modulates all the emission, not simply the 'saddle' region. By replacing each pulse with a scaled version of the average profile, we were able to quench all subpulse modulation and thereby demonstrate that the star's 'null' pulses exhibit a similar periodicity. A subbeam carousel model with a sparse and irregular 'beamlet' population appears to be compatible with these characteristics.     

Multifrequency integrated profiles of pulsars

We have observed a total of 67 pulsars at five frequencies ranging from 243 to 3100 MHz. Observations at the lower frequencies were made at the Giant Metre-Wave Telescope in India and those at higher frequencies at the Parkes Telescope in Australia. We present profiles from 34 of the sample with the best signal-to-noise ratio and the least scattering. The general 'rules' of pulsar profiles are seen in the data; profiles get narrower, the polarization fraction declines and outer components become more prominent as the frequency increases. Many counterexamples to these rules are also observed, and pulsars with complex profiles are especially prone to rule breaking. We hypothesize that the location of pulsar emission within the magnetosphere evolves with time as the pulsar spins down. In highly energetic pulsars, the emission comes from a confined range of high altitudes, in the middle range of spin down energies the emission occurs over a wide range of altitudes whereas in pulsars with low spin-down energies it is confined to low down in the magnetosphere.     

Investigating ultra-long gravitational waves with measurements of pulsar rotational parameters

A method is suggested with which to explore the gravitational wave background (GWB) in the frequency range 10⁻¹²–10⁻⁸ Hz. This method is based on the precise measurements of pulsar rotational parameters: the influence of gravitational waves (GWs) in this frequency range will affect these parameters and therefore some conclusions about the energy density of the GWB can be made using analysis of the derivatives of pulsar rotational frequency. The calculated values of the second derivative from a number of pulsars limit the density of the GWB, Ω_gw, as follows:  Ω_gw < 2 × 10⁻⁶  . Also, the time series of the frequency ν of different pulsars in a pulsar array can be cross-correlated pairwise in the same manner as in anomalous residuals analysis, thus providing the possibility of GWB detection in the ultra-low-frequency range.     

On the aberration–retardation effects in pulsars

The magnetospheric locations of pulsar radio emission region are not well known. The actual form of the so-called radius-to-frequency mapping should be reflected in the aberration–retardation (A/R) effects that shift and/or delay the photons depending on the emission height in the magnetosphere. Recent studies suggest that in a handful of pulsars the A/R effect can be discerned with respect to the peak of the central core emission region. To verify these effects in an ensemble of pulsars, we launched a project analysing multifrequency total intensity pulsar profiles obtained from the new observations from the Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope (GMRT), Arecibo Observatory (AO) and archival European Pulsar Network (EPN) data. For all these profiles, we measure the shift of the outer cone components with respect to the core component, which is necessary for establishing the A/R effect. Within our sample of 23 pulsars, seven show the A/R effects, 12 of them (doubtful cases) show a tendency towards this effect, while the remaining four are obvious counterexamples. The counterexamples and doubtful cases may arise from uncertainties in the determination of the location of the meridional plane and/or the core emission component. Hence, it appears that the A/R effects are likely to operate in most pulsars from our sample. We conclude that in cases where those effects are present the core emission has to originate below the conal emission region.     

Profile morphology and polarization of young pulsars

We present polarization profiles at 1.4 and 3.1 GHz for 14 young pulsars with characteristic ages less than 75 kyr. Careful calibration ensures that the absolute position angle of the linearly polarized radiation at the pulsar is obtained. In combination with previously published data, we draw three main conclusions about the pulse profiles of young pulsars. (i) Pulse profiles are simple and consist of either one or two prominent components. (ii) The linearly polarized fraction is nearly always in excess of 70 per cent. (iii) In profiles with two components, the trailing component nearly always dominates, only the trailing component shows circular polarization and the position angle swing is generally flat across the leading component and steep across the trailing component.
Based on these results, we can make the following generalizations about the emission beams of young pulsars. (i) There is a single, relatively wide cone of emission from near the last open field lines. (ii) Core emission is absent or rather weak. (iii) The height of the emission is between 1 and 10 per cent of the light cylinder radius.     

The Parkes Southern Pulsar Survey — III. Timing of long-period pulsars

The Parkes survey of the entire southern sky for millisecond and other low-luminosity pulsars has now been completed. The survey system and initial results were described by Manchester et al. and the final results and population studies are described by Lyne et al. A total of 298 pulsars were detected, including 101 new discoveries of which 17 were millisecond pulsars. Here we report on timing observations at Parkes and Jodrell Bank of the 84 long-period (non-millisecond) pulsars discovered in the survey, including timing solutions for 78 of them. Pulse profiles and arrival times were obtained at several different frequencies over intervals of more than a year, yielding a position, period, period derivative and dispersion measure for each pulsar. Pulse profiles at frequencies near 400 MHz and 600 or 1400 MHz are presented for most of the observed pulsars. Significant timing noise was detected for five pulsars and a glitch was observed in the period of PSR J1123–6259.     

An empirical model for the beams of radio pulsars

Motivated by recent results on the location of the radio emission in pulsar magnetospheres, we have developed a model which can account for the large diversity found in the average profile shapes of pulsars. At the centre of our model lies the idea that radio emission at a particular frequency arises from a wide range of altitudes above the surface of the star, and that it is confined to a region close to the last open field lines. We assert that the radial height range over which emission occurs is responsible for the complex average pulse shapes rather than the transverse (longitudinal) range proposed in most current models. By implementing an abrupt change in the height range to discriminate between young, short-period, highly energetic pulsars and their older counterparts, we obtain the observed transition between the simple and complex average pulse profiles observed in each group respectively. Monte Carlo simulations are used to demonstrate the match of our model to real observations.     

Multifrequency polarimetry of 300 radio pulsars

Polarimetric observations of 300 pulsars have been conducted with the 76-m Lovell telescope at Jodrell Bank at radio frequencies centred around 230, 400, 600, 920, 1400 and 1600 MHz. More than half of the pulsars have no previously published polarization profiles and this compilation represents about three times the sum of all previously published pulsar polarization data. A selection of integrated polarization profiles is provided. Tables of pulse widths and the degree of both linear and circular polarization are given for all pulsars, and these act as an index for all the data, which are available by anonymous ftp in numerical and graphical form.     

Polarization observations of 66 southern pulsars

Mean pulse profiles and polarization parameters at 435, 660 or 1500 MHz obtained using the ATNF Parkes radio telescope are presented for 66 southern pulsars. About half of these pulsars were discovered in the Parkes southern pulsar survey and most have no previously published polarization parameters. Where possible, beam impact parameters and inclination angles are computed assuming a circular beam geometry and the rotating-vector model. Implications of the results for models of the pulse emission mechanism are briefly discussed.     

Discovery of 28 pulsars using new techniques for sorting pulsar candidates

Modern pulsar surveys produce many millions of candidate pulsars, far more than can be individually inspected. Traditional methods for filtering these candidates, based upon the signal-to-noise ratio of the detection, cannot easily distinguish between interference signals and pulsars. We have developed a new method of scoring candidates using a series of heuristics which test for pulsar-like properties of the signal. This significantly increases the sensitivity to weak pulsars and pulsars with periods close to interference signals. By applying this and other techniques for ranking candidates from a previous processing of the Parkes Multi-beam Pulsar Survey, 28 previously unknown pulsars have been discovered. These include an eccentric binary system and a young pulsar which is spatially coincident with a known supernova remnant.