Real-time signal processor for pulsar studies

This paper describes the design, tests and preliminary results of a real-time parallel signal processor built to aid a wide variety of pulsar observations. The signal processor reduces the distortions caused by the effects of dispersion, Faraday rotation, doppler acceleration and parallactic angle variations, at a sustained data rate of 32 Msamples/sec. It also folds the pulses coherently over the period and integrates adjacent samples in time and frequency to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio. The resulting data are recorded for further off-line analysis of the characteristics of pulsars and the intervening medium. The signal processing for analysis of pulsar signals is quite complex, imposing the need for a high computational throughput, typically of the order of a Giga operations per second (GOPS). Conventionally, the high computational demand restricts the flexibility to handle only a few types of pulsar observations. This instrument is designed to handle a wide variety of Pulsar observations with the Giant Metre Wave Radio Telescope (GMRT), and is flexible enough to be used in many other high-speed, signal processing applications. The technology used includes field-programmable-gate-array(FPGA) based data/code routing interfaces, PC-AT based control, diagnostics and data acquisition, digital signal processor (DSP) chip based parallel processing nodes and C language based control software and DSP-assembly programs for signal processing. The architecture and the software implementation of the parallel processor are fine-tuned to realize about 60 MOPS per DSP node and a multiple-instruction-multiple-data (MIMD) capability.     

Optimizing Pulsar Searches Against Propagation Effects

Propagation effects are well known to limit the sensitivity of pulsar searches based on periodicity detections. I define several regimes for pulsar searches that are based on whether the search sensitivity is luminosity limited, dispersion limited or scattering limited. Consideration of these regimes allows general statements to be made about pulsar searches in and out of the Galactic plane. Telescope size matters, but only to a point. Once scattering becomes important it is better to search more sky (in a blind survey) than to integrate longer on a given sky position. Example surveys are described. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

脉冲星搜寻软件的安装和使用

搜寻射电脉冲星需要成熟的软件套路以保证有效地得到新发现。介绍了脉冲星搜寻过程,提供了安装脉冲星搜寻软件的工具,并给出了脉冲星搜寻的例子。     

脉冲星数据比对分析和可视化系统设计与实现

脉冲星数据比对分析和可视化系统(PSRDB,URL:http://www.psrdb.net/),由FAST(Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope)早期科学数据中心团队为快速开展脉冲星候选体比对分析和数据管理研发.通过前端数据提交页面,接收和维护来自FAST及其他研究机构的候选体数据.目前,PSRDB已收录自1967年人类发现第1颗脉冲星以来所有公开文献发表的2811颗脉冲星样本,并采集了当前主要巡天项目尚未正式发表的源和候选体,如FAST多科学目标同时扫描巡天(CRAFTS)候选体数据.基于入库基础数据,利用位置、周期、色散等参数进行比对分析,辅助科研工作者在线检索匹配已知星表数据,最后将检索匹配、比对分析结果生成图表供进一步分析.目前,PSRDB已被应用于FAST脉冲星搜寻和候选体数据管理.未来,PSRDB可在新源认证、后随观测、观测计划制定和原始数据处理流程设计等方面提供数据和工具支撑.     

Millisecond pulsars

In 1982 we discovered a pulsar with the phenomenal rotation rate of 642 Hz, 20 times faster than the spin rate of the Crab pulsar. The absence of supernova debris in the vicinity of the pulsar at any wavelength indicates an age of the neutron star greater than 10⁵ yr. The miniscule spindown rate of 1.1 × 10^-19 confirms the old age and indicates a surface magnetic field of 10⁹ G. A second millisecond pulsar was discovered by Boriakoff, Buccheri & Fauci (1983) in a 120-day orbit. These fast pulsars may have been spun-up by mass transfer in a close binary evolutionary stage. Arrival-time observations of the 642-Hz pulsar display remarkably low residuals over the first 14 months. The stability implied by these observations, 3 × 10^-14, suggests that millisecond pulsars will provide the most accurate basis for terrestrial dynamical time. If so, the pulsar data will lead to improvements in the planetary ephemeris and to new searches for light-year scale gravitational waves. Many new searches for fast pulsars are under way since previous sky surveys excluded pulsars with spins above 60 Hz.     

大规模脉冲星候选体信号的无监督聚类分析研究

随着500 m口径球面射电望远镜(Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope, FAST)等大型射电望远镜的建设和使用,脉冲星巡天数据进入PB时代.为解决如此大量高速采样的标量数据挖掘问题,促进新天文现象的发现,提出一种基于无监督聚类的脉冲星候选体筛选方案.该方案采用基于密度层次、划分方法的混合聚类算法,结合MapReduce/Spark并行计算模型和基于滑动窗口的分组策略,进而提高大量候选体信号筛选的效率.通过在脉冲星数据集HTRU2 (High Time Resolution Universe)上的对比实验,结果表明该算法能取得较高的精确度和召回率,分别是0.946和0.905,并且当并行节点足够时,该算法的时间复杂度相比串行执行明显下降.可见,该方法为脉冲星观测大数据的分析挖掘提供一种可行思路.     

Determination of the orbital parameters of binary pulsars

We present a simple method for determination of the orbital parameters of binary pulsars, using data on the pulsar period at multiple observing epochs. This method uses the circular nature of the velocity space orbit of Keplerian motion and produces preliminary values based on two one-dimensional searches. Preliminary orbital parameter values are then refined using a computationally efficient linear least-squares fit. This method works for random and sparse sampling of the binary orbit. We demonstrate the technique on (i) the highly eccentric binary pulsar PSR J0514−4002 (the first known pulsar in the globular cluster NGC 1851) and (ii) 47 Tuc T, a binary pulsar with a nearly circular orbit.     

Spatial modulation search applied to the search and confirmation of highly scintillated pulsars at FAST with a pulsar discovered in M3

We present a pulsar candidate identification and confirmation procedure based on a position-switch mode during the pulsar search observations. This method enables the simultaneous search and confirmation of a pulsar in a single observation, by utilizing the different spatial features of a pulsar signal and radio frequency interference(RFI). Based on this method, we performed test pulsar search observations in globular clusters M3, M15 and M92. We discovered and confirmed a new pulsar, M3 F, and detected the known pulsars M3 B, M15 A to G(except C) and M92 A.     

Milagro observations of potential TeV emitters

This paper reports the results from three targeted searches of Milagro TeV sky maps: two extragalactic point source lists and one pulsar source list. The first extragalactic candidate list consists of 709 candidates selected from the Fermi-LAT 2FGL catalog. The second extragalactic candidate list contains 31 candidates selected from the TeVCat source catalog that have been detected by imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs). In both extragalactic candidate lists Mkn 421 was the only source detected by Milagro. This paper presents the Milagro TeV flux for Mkn 421 and flux limits for the brighter Fermi-LAT extragalactic sources and for all TeVCat candidates. The pulsar list extends a previously published Milagro targeted search for Galactic sources. With the 32 new gamma-ray pulsars identified in 2FGL, the number of pulsars that are studied by both Fermi-LAT and Milagro is increased to 52. In this sample, we find that the probability of Milagro detecting a TeV emission coincident with a pulsar increases with the GeV flux observed by the Fermi-LAT in the energy range from 0.1 GeV to 100 GeV.     

Two decades of pulsar timing of Vela

Pulsar timing at the Mt Pleasant observatory has focused on Vela, which can be tracked for 18 hours of the day. These nearly continuous timing records extend over 24 years allowing a greater insight into details of timing noise, micro glitches and other more exotic effects. In particular we report the glitch parameters of the 2004 event, along with the reconfirmation that the spin up for the Vela pulsar occurs instantaneously to the accuracy of the data. This places a lower limit of about 30 seconds for the acceleration of the pulsar to the new rotational frequency. We also confirm of the low braking index for Vela, and the continued fall in the DM for this pulsar.     

A real-time coherent dedispersion pipeline for the giant metrewave radio telescope

A fully real-time coherent dedispersion system has been developed for the pulsar back-end at the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT). The dedispersion pipeline uses the single phased array voltage beam produced by the existing GMRT software back-end (GSB) to produce coherently dedispersed intensity output in real time, for the currently operational bandwidths of 16 MHz and 32 MHz. Provision has also been made to coherently dedisperse voltage beam data from observations recorded on disk. We discuss the design and implementation of the real-time coherent dedispersion system, describing the steps carried out to optimise the performance of the pipeline. Presently functioning on an Intel Xeon X5550 CPU equipped with a NVIDIA Tesla C2075 GPU, the pipeline allows dispersion free, high time resolution data to be obtained in real-time. We illustrate the significant improvements over the existing incoherent dedispersion system at the GMRT, and present some preliminary results obtained from studies of pulsars using this system, demonstrating its potential as a useful tool for low frequency pulsar observations. We describe the salient features of our implementation, comparing it with other recently developed real-time coherent dedispersion systems. This implementation of a real-time coherent dedispersion pipeline for a large, low frequency array instrument like the GMRT, will enable long-term observing programs using coherent dedispersion to be carried out routinely at the observatory. We also outline the possible improvements for such a pipeline, including prospects for the upgraded GMRT which will have bandwidths about ten times larger than at present.     

基于分布式执行框架的低频射电干涉阵列成像管线优化

平方公里阵列(Square Kilometre Array,SKA)项目是建设全球最大射电望远镜的国际合作项目,其灵敏度和测量速度将比当前所有的射电望远镜都要高出一个数量级.连续谱巡天是SKA的主要观测模式之一,基于连续谱成像建立巡天区域的标准星图,将能为后续天文科学研究奠定重要基础.银河系与河外星系全天默奇森宽场阵列拓展巡天(GaLactic and Extragalactic All-sky Murchison Widefield Array survey eXtended,GLEAM-X)是2018—2020年利用SKA先导望远镜默奇森宽场阵列(Murchison Wide-field Array,MWA)二期拓展阵列开展的新的射电连续谱巡天项目,观测期间积累了大量的低频巡天观测数据.海量观测数据的自动化、大批量处理是SKA望远镜项目所面临的的最大挑战和难题之一,基于分布式执行框架的成像管线优化经验将有助于解决海量数据处理问题.详细介绍了GLEAM-X成像管线并对其进行整合和改进,在中国SKA区域中心原型机(China SKA Regional Centre Prototype,...     

四种综合脉冲星时算法比较

由单颗脉冲星定义的脉冲星时受多种噪声源的影响,其短期和长期稳定度都不够好.为了削弱这些噪声源对单脉冲星时的影响,可以采取合适的算法对多个单脉冲星时进行综合得到综合脉冲星时,从而提高综合脉冲星时的长期稳定度.文中介绍4种综合脉冲星时算法:经典加权算法、小波分析算法、维纳滤波算法和小波域中的维纳滤波算法,将这4种算法分别应用于Arecibo天文台对两颗毫秒脉冲星PSR B1855+09和PSRB1937+21观测得到的计时残差并作出比较.     

Oscillating pulsar polar gaps

An analytical model for oscillating pair creation above the pulsar polar cap is presented in which the parallel electric field is treated as a large amplitude, superluminal, electrostatic wave. An exact formalism for such wave is derived in one dimension and applied to both the low-density regime in which the pair plasma density is much lower than the corotating charge density and the high-density regime in which the pair plasma density is much higher than the corotating charge density. In the low-density regime, which is relevant during the phase leading to a pair cascade, a parallel electric field develops resulting in a rapid acceleration of particles. The rapid acceleration leads to bursts of pair production and the system switches to the oscillatory phase, corresponding to the high-density regime, in which pairs oscillate with net drift motion in the direction of wave propagation. Oscillating pairs lead to a current that oscillates with large amplitude about the Goldreich–Julian current. The drift motion can be highly relativistic if the phase speed of large amplitude waves is moderately higher than the speed of light. Thus, the model predicts a relativistic outflow of pairs, a feature that is required for avoiding overheating of the pulsar polar cap and is also needed for the pulsar wind.     

Searches for Planets Around Neutron Stars

We review the methodology of searches for planet-mass bodies around neutron stars observable as radio pulsars and discuss the current status of these searches. PSR B1257 + 12, a 6.2-millisecond pulsar, remains the only neutron star accompanied by confirmed planets. It is possible that there is a fourth distant planet in the 1257+12 system. The best of the other candidates for pulsar planets under consideration is a distant, possibly Jovian-mass companion to PSR B1620-26, a 11-millisecond pulsar in the globular cluster M4. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The Pulsar Observing System and Data Analysis Procedure Used at MRT

The Mauritius Radio Telescope (MRT) was designed to operate mainly as an imaging instrument to carry out a southern sky survey at 150MHz. However, it has also been successfully used it for pulsar observations. In this paper, we give an overview of the pulsar observing system we developed for use at MRT. Our pulsar receiver is of the ‘direct-recording’ type whereby most of the data processing, including dedispersion is done completely offline. The various steps involved in this data processing are also briefly described. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

An interference removal technique for radio pulsar searches

Searches for radio pulsars are becoming increasingly difficult because of a rise in impulsive man-made terrestrial radio-frequency interference. Here, we present a new technique, zero dispersion measure filtering, which can significantly reduce the effects of such signals in pulsar search data. The technique has already been applied to a small portion of the data from the Parkes multi-beam pulsar survey, resulting in the discovery of four new pulsars, so illustrating its efficacy.     

Modelling interaction of relativistic and non-relativistic winds in binary system PSR B1259−63/SS2883 – I. Hydrodynamical limit

In this paper, we present a detailed hydrodynamical study of the properties of the flow produced by the collision of a pulsar wind with the surrounding in a binary system. This work is the first attempt to simulate interaction of the ultrarelativistic flow (pulsar wind) with the non-relativistic stellar wind. Obtained results show that the wind collision could result in the formation of an 'unclosed' (at spatial scales comparable to the binary system size) pulsar wind termination shock even when the stellar wind ram pressure exceeds significantly the pulsar wind kinetic pressure. Moreover, the post-shock flow propagates in a rather narrow region, with very high bulk Lorentz factor (γ∼ 100). This flow acceleration is related to adiabatic losses which are purely hydrodynamical effects. Interestingly, in this particular case, no magnetic field is required for formation of the ultrarelativistic bulk outflow. The obtained results provide a new interpretation for the orbital variability of radio, X-ray and gamma-ray signals detected from binary pulsar system PSR B1259−63/SS2883.     

ONSET数据流水线

随着天文大科学设备的投入使用,传统的开发模式面临程序重复开发,环境依赖冲突等问题。另外,集群是一个高度耦合的计算资源,严重的环境冲突可能导致整个集群不可用。为了解决这个问题,采用微服务的概念开发新的流水线框架,这种框架可以实现短期内开发和部署新的流水线。介绍了通过这种框架开发的ONSET数据流水线,为了实现准实时数据处理,采用MPI和GPU技术对核心程序做了优化,并对最后的性能做了评估。结果表明,这种开发模式可以在短期内搭建满足需求的流水线,这种开发模式对未来多波段多终端的天文数据处理有借鉴意义。     

基于双谱滤波的综合脉冲星时算法研究

毫秒脉冲星的自转频率非常稳定,提供了一种独立的基于遥远自然天体并能持续数百万乃至数十亿年的时间基准,具有稳定性强、运行时间长、服务范围广等特点.为了减弱毫秒脉冲星计时观测中各种高斯噪声对脉冲星时的影响,研究了一种基于双谱滤波的综合脉冲星时构建算法,处理分析了国际脉冲星计时阵(International Pul-sar Timing Array,IPTA)最新发布的4颗毫秒脉冲星(PSR J0437-4715、J0613-0200、J1713+0747和J1909-3744)的观测数据,分析了不同时间尺度综合脉冲星时的稳定性,并与构成国际原子时(International Atomic Time,TAI)的4家授时单位原子钟稳定性进行了比较.结果表明:双谱滤波算法能够较好地抑制观测噪声,提高综合脉冲星时的稳定性.相比于经典加权算法,综合脉冲星时1 yr、10 yr稳定度从7.77×10^-14、8.56×10^-16分别提高到1.50×10^-14、3.50×10^-16,单脉冲星时稳定性的提升也类似.同时发现,综合脉冲星时稳定性在5 yr及以上时间尺度上优于原子钟稳定性,可用于改善当前原子时的长期稳定性.