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Register a new userDiscovery and timing of the first 8gr8 Cygnus survey pulsars
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Since 2004 we have been carrying out a pulsar survey of the Cygnus region with the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT) at a frequency of 328 MHz. The survey pioneered a novel interferometric observing mode, termed 8gr8 (eight-grate), whereby multiple simultaneous digital beams provide high sensitivity over a large field of view. Since the Cygnus region is known to contain OB associations, it is likely that pulsars are formed here. Simulations have shown that this survey could detect 70 pulsars, which would increase our understanding of the radio pulsar population in this region. We also aim to expand the known population of intermittent and rotating radio transient (RRAT)-like pulsars. In this paper we describe our methods of observation, processing and data analysis, and we present the first results. Our observing method exploits the way a regularly spaced, linear array of telescopes yields a corresponding regularly spaced series of so-called ``grating beams on the sky. By simultaneously forming a modest number (eight) of offset digital beams, we can utilize the entire field of view of each WSRT dish, but retain the coherently summed sensitivity of the entire array. For the processing we performed a large number of trial combinations of period and dispersion measure (DM) using a computer cluster. In the first processing cycle of the WSRT 8gr8 Cygnus Survey, we have discovered three radio pulsars, with spin periods of 1.657, 1.099 and 0.445 seconds. These pulsars have been observed on a regular basis since their discovery, both in a special follow-up programme as well as in the regular timing programme. The timing solutions are presented in this paper. We also discuss this survey method in the context of the SKA and its pathfinders.
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We are currently undertaking a survey to search for new pulsars and the recently found Rotating RAdio Transcients (RRATs) in the Cygnus OB complex. The survey uses the Westerbrok Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT) in a unique way called the 8gr8 mode, which gives it the best efficiency of any low-frequency wide-area survey. So far we have found a few new pulsars and the routines for the detection of RRATs are already implemented in the standard reduction. We expect to find a few tens of new pulsars and a similar number of RRATs. This will help us to improve our knowledge about the population and properties of the latter poorly known objects as well as provide an improved knowledge of the number of young pulsars associated with the OB complexes in the Cygnus region.
We present the discovery and timing solutions of five new pulsars by students involved in the Pulsar Search Collaboratory (PSC), a NSF-funded joint program between the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and West Virginia University designed to excite and engage high-school students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and related fields. We encourage students to pursue STEM fields by apprenticing them within a professional scientific community doing cutting edge research, specifically by teaching them to search for pulsars. The students are analyzing 300 hours of drift-scan survey data taken with the Green Bank Telescope at 350 MHz. These data cover 2876 square degrees of the sky. Over the course of five years, more than 700 students have inspected diagnostic plots through a web-based graphical interface designed for this project. The five pulsars discovered in the data have spin periods ranging from 3.1 ms to 4.8 s. Among the new discoveries are - PSR J1926-1314, a long period, nulling pulsar; PSR J1821+0155, an isolated, partially recycled 33-ms pulsar; and PSR J1400-1438, a millisecond pulsar in a 9.5-day orbit whose companion is likely a white dwarf star.
The Parkes multibeam pulsar survey has unlocked vast areas of the Galactic plane which were previously invisible to earlier low-frequency and less-sensitive surveys. The survey has discovered more than 600 new pulsars so far, including many that are young and exotic. In this paper we report the discovery of 200 pulsars for which we present positional and spin-down parameters, dispersion measures, flux densities and pulse profiles. A large number of these new pulsars are young and energetic, and we review possible associations of $gamma$-ray sources with the sample of about 1300 pulsars for which timing solutions are known. Based on a statistical analysis, we estimate that about $19pm6$ associations are genuine. The survey has also discovered 12 pulsars with spin properties similar to those of the Vela pulsar, nearly doubling the known population of such neutron stars. Studying the properties of all known `Vela-like pulsars, we find their radio luminosities to be similar to normal pulsars, implying that they are very inefficient radio sources. Finally, we review the use of the newly discovered pulsars as Galactic probes and discuss the implications of the new NE2001 Galactic electron density model for the determination of pulsar distances and luminosities.
We present timing solutions for ten pulsars discovered in 350 MHz searches with the Green Bank Telescope. Nine of these were discovered in the Green Bank Northern Celestial Cap survey and one was discovered by students in the Pulsar Search Collaboratory program in analysis of drift-scan data. Following discovery and confirmation with the Green Bank Telescope, timing has yielded phase-connected solutions with high precision measurements of rotational and astrometric parameters. Eight of the pulsars are slow and isolated, including PSR J0930$-$2301, a pulsar with nulling fraction lower limit of $sim$30% and nulling timescale of seconds to minutes. This pulsar also shows evidence of mode changing. The remaining two pulsars have undergone recycling, accreting material from binary companions, resulting in higher spin frequencies. PSR J0557$-$2948 is an isolated, 44 rm{ms} pulsar that has been partially recycled and is likely a former member of a binary system which was disrupted by a second supernova. The paucity of such so-called `disrupted binary pulsars (DRPs) compared to double neutron star (DNS) binaries can be used to test current evolutionary scenarios, especially the kicks imparted on the neutron stars in the second supernova. There is some evidence that DRPs have larger space velocities, which could explain their small numbers. PSR J1806+2819 is a 15 rm{ms} pulsar in a 44 day orbit with a low mass white dwarf companion. We did not detect the companion in archival optical data, indicating that it must be older than 1200 Myr.
We have made extensive observations of 35 distant slow (non-recycled) pulsars discovered in the ongoing Arecibo PALFA pulsar survey. Timing observations of these pulsars over several years at Arecibo Observatory and Jodrell Bank Observatory have yielded high-precision positions and measurements of rotation properties. Despite being a relatively distant population, these pulsars have properties that mirror those of the previously known pulsar population. Many of the sources exhibit timing noise, and one underwent a small glitch. We have used multifrequency data to measure the interstellar scattering properties of these pulsars. We find scattering to be higher than predicted along some lines of sight, particularly in the Cygnus region. Lastly, we present XMM-Newton and Chandra observations of the youngest and most energetic of the pulsars, J1856+0245, which has previously been associated with the GeV-TeV pulsar wind nebula HESS J1857+026.
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