No Arabic abstract
PSR J1713+0747 is one of the most precisely timed pulsars in the international pulsar timing array experiment. This pulsar showed an abrupt profile shape change between April 16, 2021 (MJD 59320) and April 17, 2021 (MJD 59321). In this paper, we report the results from multi-frequency observations of this pulsar carried out with the upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (uGMRT) before and after the event. We demonstrate the profile change seen in Band 5 (1260 MHz - 1460 MHz) and Band 3 (300 MHz - 500 MHz). The timing analysis of this pulsar shows a disturbance accompanying this profile change followed by a recovery with a timescale of $sim 159$ days. Our data suggest that a model with chromatic index as a free parameter is preferred over models with combinations of achromaticity with DM bump or scattering bump. We determine the frequency dependence to be $sim u^{+1.34}$.
Propagation effects in the interstellar medium and intrinsic profile changes can cause variability in the timing of pulsars, which limits the accuracy of fundamental science done via pulsar timing. One of the best timing pulsars, PSR J1713+0747, has gone through two ``dip events in its dispersion measure time series. If these events reflect real changes in electron column density, they should lead to multiple imaging. We show that the events are are well-fit by an underdense corrugated sheet model, and look for associated variability in the pulse profile using principal component analysis. We find that there are transient pulse profile variations, but they vary in concert with the dispersion measure, unlike what is expected from lensing due to a corrugated sheet. The change is consistent in shape across profiles from both the Greenbank and Arecibo radio observatories, and its amplitude appears to be achromatic across the 820 MHz, 1.4 GHz, and 2.3 GHz bands, again unlike expected from interference between lensed images. This result is puzzling. We note that some of the predicted lensing effects would need higher time and frequency resolution data than used in this analysis. Future events appear likely, and storing baseband data or keeping multiple time-frequency resolutions will allow more in-depth study of propagation effects and hence improvements to pulsar timing accuracy.
The frequency dependence of radio pulse arrival times provides a probe of structures in the intervening media. Demorest et al. 2013 was the first to show a short-term (~100-200 days) reduction in the electron content along the line of sight to PSR J1713+0747 in data from 2008 (approximately MJD 54750) based on an apparent dip in the dispersion measure of the pulsar. We report on a similar event in 2016 (approximately MJD 57510), with average residual pulse-arrival times of approximately 3.0,-1.3, and -0.7 microseconds at 820, 1400, and 2300 MHz, respectively. Timing analyses indicate possible departures from the standard nu^-2 dispersive-delay dependence. We discuss and rule out a wide variety of potential interpretations. We find the likeliest scenario to be lensing of the radio emission by some structure in the interstellar medium, which causes multiple frequency-dependent pulse arrival-time delays.
Single pulses preserve information about the pulsar radio emission and propagation in the pulsar magnetosphere, and understanding the behaviour of their variability is essential for estimating the fundamental limit on the achievable pulsar timing precision. Here we report the findings of our analysis of single pulses from PSR J1713+0747 with data collected by the Large European Array for Pulsars (LEAP). We present statistical studies of the pulse properties that include distributions of their energy, phase and width. Two modes of systematic sub-pulse drifting have been detected, with a periodicity of 7 and 3 pulse periods. The two modes appear at different ranges of pulse longitude but overlap under the main peak of the integrated profile. No evidence for pulse micro-structure is seen with a time resolution down to 140 ns. In addition, we show that the fractional polarisation of single pulses increases with their pulse peak flux density. By mapping the probability density of linear polarisation position angle with pulse longitude, we reveal the existence of two orthogonal polarisation modes. Finally, we find that the resulting phase jitter of integrated profiles caused by single pulse variability can be described by a Gaussian probability distribution only when at least 100 pulses are used for integration. Pulses of different flux densities and widths contribute approximately equally to the phase jitter, and no improvement on timing precision is achieved by using a sub-set of pulses with a specific range of flux density or width.
Splaver and coworkers have measured the masses of the white dwarf and the neutron star components of the PSR J1713+0747 binary system pair by Shapiro Delay. We attempt to find the original configuration of this system performing a set of binary evolution calculations to simultaneously account for the masses of both stars and the orbital period. We considered initial masses of 1.5 and 1.4 msun for the normal (donor) and the neutron star, respectively. We assumed two metallicity values (Z = 0.010 and 0.020), and an initial orbital period near 3 days. We assume that the neutron star is only able to retain lesssim 0.10 of the matter transferred by the donor star. Calculations were performed employing our binary hydro code that handles the mass transfer rate in a fully implicit way together with state-of-the-art physical ingredients, diffusion and a non-grey atmospheres. We compare the structure of the resulting white dwarfs with the characteristic age of PSR J1713+0747 finding a nice agreement with observations by Lundgren et al. especially for the case of a donor star with Z= 0.010. This result indicates that the evolution of this kind of binary system is well understood. The models predict that, due to diffusion, the atmosphere of the white dwarf is an almost hydrogen-pure one. We find that such structures are unable to account for the colours measured by Lundgren et al. within their error bars. Thus, some discrepances in the white dwarf emergent radiation remain to be explained.
We search for continuous gravitational waves (CGWs) produced by individual super-massive black-hole binaries (SMBHBs) in circular orbits using high-cadence timing observations of PSR J1713$+$0747. We observe this millisecond pulsar using the telescopes in the European Pulsar Timing Array (EPTA) with an average cadence of approximately 1.6 days over the period between April 2011 and July 2015, including an approximately daily average between February 2013 and April 2014. The high-cadence observations are used to improve the pulsar timing sensitivity across the GW frequency range of $0.008-5$ $mu$Hz. We use two algorithms in the analysis, including a spectral fitting method and a Bayesian approach. For an independent comparison, we also use a previously published Bayesian algorithm. We find that the Bayesian approaches provide optimal results and the timing observations of the pulsar place a 95 per cent upper limit on the sky-averaged strain amplitude of CGWs to be $lesssim3.5times10^{-13}$ at a reference frequency of 1 $mu$Hz. We also find a 95 per cent upper limit on the sky-averaged strain amplitude of low-frequency CGWs to be $lesssim1.4times10^{-14}$ at a reference frequency of 20~nHz.