scholarly journals Pulsar polarimetry with the Parkes ultra-wideband receiver

2020 ◽  
Vol 496 (2) ◽  
pp. 1418-1429
Author(s):  
Lucy Oswald ◽  
Aris Karastergiou ◽  
Simon Johnston

ABSTRACT Pulsar radio emission and its polarization are observed to evolve with frequency. This frequency dependence is key to the emission mechanism and the structure of the radio beam. With the new ultra-wideband receiver (UWL) on the Parkes radio telescope we are able, for the first time, to observe how pulsar profiles evolve over a broad continuous bandwidth of 700–4000 MHz. We describe here a technique for processing broad-band polarimetric observations to establish a meaningful alignment and visualize the data across the band. We apply this to observations of PSRs J1056–6258 and J1359–6038, chosen due to previously unresolved questions about the frequency evolution of their emission. Application of our technique reveals that it is possible to align the polarization position angle (PA) across a broad frequency range when constrained to applying only corrections for dispersion and Faraday rotation to do so. However, this does not correspond to aligned intensity profiles for these two sources. We find that it is possible to convert these misalignments into emission height range estimates that are consistent with published and simulated values, suggesting that they can be attributed to relativistic effects in the magnetosphere. We discuss this work in the context of the radio beam structure and prepare the ground for a wider study of pulsar emission using broad-band polarimetric data.

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (S291) ◽  
pp. 530-532 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. M. Ulyanov ◽  
A. I. Shevtsova ◽  
A. A. Seredkina

AbstractThe possibility of a polarization sounding of the pulsar magnetosphere is examined, using intrinsic pulsar emission as a probe signal, for modern radio telescopes operating in the meter and decameter wavelength range. Different models of the pulsar magnetosphere at altitudes higher than a radius of critical polarization are used. The propagation medium besides magnetosphere is described by the stratified model, in which each layer has its own density of free electrons and vector of magnetic induction, as well as the spatial and temporal fluctuation scales of these parameters.The frequency dependence of the polarization parameters of the pulsar radio emission, obtained in the broad band for a selected pulse phase, will enable a sounding deep into the pulsar magnetosphere.


2000 ◽  
Vol 177 ◽  
pp. 149-154
Author(s):  
Avinash A. Deshpande

Pulsar radio emission shows remarkably rich, but complex behavior in both intensity and polarization when considered on a pulse-to-pulse basis. A large number of pulses, when averaged together, tend to approach & define stable shapes that can be considered as distinct signatures of different pulsars. Such average profiles have shapes ranging from that describable as a simple one-component profile to those suggesting as many as 9 components. The components are understood as resulting from an average of many, often narrower, intities — the subpulses —that appear within the longitude range of a given component. The pulse components are thusformedand represent statistically an intensity-weighted average pattern of the radiation received as a function of longitude. The profile mode changes recognized in many pulsars suggest that the emission profile of a given pulsar may have two quasi-stable states, with one (primary) state more probable/brighter than the other (secondary) state. There are also (often associated) polarization modes that represent polarization states that are orthogonal to each other. The complex nature of orthogonaljumpsobserved in polarization position-angle sweeps may be attributable to possible superposition of two profile/polarization modes with orthogonal polarizations.


2000 ◽  
Vol 177 ◽  
pp. 265-266
Author(s):  
D. Mitra ◽  
S. Konar ◽  
D. Bhattacharya ◽  
A. V. Hoensbroech ◽  
J. H. Seiradakis ◽  
...  

AbstractThe evolution of the multipolar structure of the magnetic field of isolated neutron stars is studied assuming the currents to be confined to the crust. Lower orders (≤ 25) of multipole are seen to evolve in a manner similar to the dipole suggesting little or no evolution of the expected pulse shape. We also study the multifrequency polarization position angle traverse of PSR B0329+54 and find a significant frequency dependence above 2.7 GHz. We interpret this as an evidence of strong multipolar magnetic field present in the radio emission region.


1975 ◽  
Vol 2 (6) ◽  
pp. 334-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.N. Manchester

For many pulsars the integrated or mean pulse profile is highly polarized. Generally linear polarization dominates over circular and there is a continuous variation of position angle through the profile (e.g. Manchester 1971). In most models for the emission process the angle of polarization is related to the (projected) direction of magnetic fields in the source region. Several of the observed properties of pulsars, for example, the mode-changing phenomenon (Backer 1970) and the different spectral index of different components of the intergrated profile (Manchester 1971), suggest that different parts of the integrated profile are emitted in different (though closely related) parts of the source. The different observed position angles across the integrated profile would then result from different projected magnetic field directions in these different parts of the source. For many pulsars the observed position angle variations are closely represented by a path through a radial set of projected field directions such as would be obtained in the vicinity of a magnetic pole (cf. Radhakrishnan and Cooke 1969).


1996 ◽  
Vol 160 ◽  
pp. 287-288
Author(s):  
Jaroslaw Kijak ◽  
Janusz A. Gil

We verify the relationship proposed by Kijak and Gil (1996) for the pulsar radio emission altitudes(see also Eq.3 in Gil & Krawczyk, 1996), using the pulse-profile Effelsberg raw data at 1.41 GHz. We measured profile pulse-widths at the lowest intensity level corresponding to 0.01% of the maximum intensity (Fig. 1b), using the polarlog-scale technique (Hankins and Fowler, 1986). We calculated opening angles (Fig. 1a) and emission altitudes (Fig. 1c) assuming that:i) pulsar radiation is narrow-band with radius-to-frequency mapping operating in the emission region,ii) pulsar emission is beamed tangentially to the dipolar magnetic field lines,iii) the extreme profile wings originate near or at the last open field lines.


1992 ◽  
Vol 128 ◽  
pp. 384-386
Author(s):  
D. M. GOULD

Polarimetric observations of over 300 pulsars have been carried out between 21 December 1988 and 22 January 1990 at 606, 610, 925, and 1408 MHz using the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank. Many of these pulsars have no previously published polarization profiles and will be published shortly (Gould and Lyne 1990). This large data set along with previously published data from various sources, has been used to test the correlation found by Radhakrishnan and Rankin (1990) between sense reversing circular polarization signatures and the accompanying sense of rotation of the linear polarization position angle.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (S337) ◽  
pp. 73-78
Author(s):  
Joanna M. Rankin

AbstractPulsars were discovered on the basis of their individual pulses, first by Jocelyn Bell and then by many others. This was chart-recorder science as computers were not yet in routine use. Single pulses carry direct information about the emission process as revealed in the detailed properties of their polarization characteristics. Early analyses of single pulses proved so dizzyingly complex that attention shifted to study of average profiles. This is turn led to models of pulsar emission beams—in particular the core/double-cone model—which now provides a foundation for understanding single-pulse sequences. We mention some of the 21stC single-pulse surveys and conclude with a brief discussion of our own recent analyses leading to the identification of the pulsar radio-emission mechanism of both slow and millsecond pulsars.


10.14311/1472 ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 51 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Lewandowska ◽  
D. Elsäesser ◽  
K. Mannheim

The Crab pulsar is a unique source of pulsar radio emission. Its regular pulse structure is visible over the entire electromagnetic spectrum from radio to GeV ranges. Among the regular pulses, radio giant pulses (GPs) are known as a special form of pulsar radio emission. Although the Crab pulsar was discovered by its GPs, their origin and emission mechanisms are currently not understood. Within the framework of this report we give a review on radio GPs and present a new idea on how to examine the characteristics of this as yet not understood kind of pulsar emission.


Author(s):  
R. Yuen ◽  
D. B. Melrose

AbstractA standard model for the visibility of pulsar radio emission is based on the assumption that the emission is confined to a narrow cone about the tangent to a dipolar field line. The widely accepted rotating vector model (RVM) is an approximation in which the line of sight is fixed and the field line is not strictly tangent to it. We refer to an exact treatment (Gangadhara, 2004) as the tangent model. In the tangent model (but not in the RVM) the visible point changes as a function of pulsar rotational phase, ψ, defining a trajectory on a sphere of radius r. We solve for the trajectory and for the angular velocity of the visible point around it. We note the recent claim that this motion is observable using interstellar holography (Pen et al., 2014). We estimate the error introduced by use of the RVM and find that it is significant for pulsars with emission over a wide range of ψ. The RVM tends to underestimate the range of ψ over which emission is visible. We suggest that the geometry alone strongly favors the visible pulsar radio being emitted at a heights more than ten percent of the light-cylinder distance, where our neglect of retardation effects becomes significant.


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