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We have revisited the problem of off-pulse emission in pulsars, where detailed search for the presence of low level radio emission outside the pulse window is carried out. The presence of off-pulse emission was earlier reported in two long period pulsars, PSR B0525+21 and B2046-16 at frequencies below 1 GHz using the Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope (GMRT). However, subsequent studies did not detect off-pulse emission from these pulsars at higher radio frequencies (> 1 GHz). We have carefully inspected the analysis scheme used in the earlier detections and found an anomaly with data editing routines used, which resulted in leakage of signal from the on-pulse to the off-pulse region. We show that the earlier detections from PSR B0525+21 and B2046-16 were a result of this leakage. The above analysis scheme has been modified and offline-gating has been used to search for off-pulse emission in 21 long period pulsars (P > 1.2 sec) at different observing frequencies of GMRT. The presence of low level off-pulse emission of peak flux 0.5 mJy was detected in the brightest pulsar in this list PSR 0B0628-28, with off-pulse to average pulsar flux ratio of 0.25%. We suggest that coherent radio emission resulting due to cyclotron resonance near the light cylinder can be a possible source for the off-pulse emission in this pulsar.
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We propose a new method to detect off-pulse (unpulsed and/or continuous) emission from pulsars, using the intensity modulations associated with interstellar scintillation. Our technique involves obtaining the dynamic spectra, separately for on-pulse window and off-pulse region, with time and frequency resolutions to properly sample the intensity variations due to diffractive scintillation, and then estimating their mutual correlation as a measure of off-pulse emission, if any. We describe and illustrate the essential details of this technique with the help of simulations, as well as real data. We also discuss advantages of this method over earlier approaches to detect off-pulse emission. In particular, we point out how certain non-idealities inherent to measurement set-ups could potentially affect estimations in earlier approaches, and argue that the present technique is immune to such non-idealities. We verify both of the above situations with relevant simulations. We apply this method to observation of PSR B0329+54 at frequencies 730 and 810 MHz, made with the Green Bank Telescope and present upper limits for the off-pulse intensity at the two frequencies. We expect this technique to pave way for extensive investigations of off-pulse emission with the help of even existing dynamic spectral data on pulsars and of course with more sensitive long-duration data from new observations.
The core component width in normal pulsars, with periods ($P$) $>$ 0.1 seconds, measured at the half-power point at 1 GHz has a lower boundary line (LBL) which closely follows the $P^{-0.5}$ scaling relation. This result is of fundamental importance for understanding the emission process and requires extended studies over a wider frequency range. In this paper we have carried out a detailed study of the profile component widths of 123 normal pulsars observed in the Meterwavelength Single-pulse Polarimetric Emission Survey at 333 and 618 MHz. The components in the pulse profile were separated into core and conal classes. We found that at both frequencies the core as well as the conal component widths versus period had a LBL which followed the $P^{-0.5}$ relation with a similar lower boundary. The radio emission in normal pulsars have been observationally shown to arise from a narrow range of heights around a few hundred kilometers above the stellar surface. In the past the $P^{-0.5}$ relation has been considered as evidence for emission arising from last open dipolar magnetic field lines. We show that the $P^{-0.5}$ dependence only holds if the trailing and leading half-power points of the component are associated with the last open field line. In such a scenario we do not find any physical motivation which can explain the $P^{-0.5}$ dependence for both core and conal components as evidence for dipolar geometry in normal pulsars. We believe the period dependence is a result of an yet unexplained physical phenomenon.
Spin evolution of X-ray pulsars in High Mass X-ray Binaries (HMXBs) is discussed under various assumptions about the geometry and physical parameters of the accretion flow. The torque applied to the neutron star from the accretion flow and equilibrium period of the pulsars are evaluated. We show that the observed spin evolution of the pulsars can be explained in terms of a scenario in which the neutron star accretes material from a magnetized stellar wind.
Pulsars typically exhibit radio emission in the form of narrow pulses originated from confined regions of their magnetospheres. A potential presence of magnetospherically originated emission outside this region, the so-called off-pulse emission, would challenge the existing theories. Detection of significant off-pulse emission has been reported so far from only two pulsars, B0525+21 and B2045-16, at 325 and 610 MHz. However, the nature of this newly uncovered off-pulse emission remains unclear. To probe its origin we conducted very high resolution radio observations of B0525+21 and B2045-16 with the European VLBI Network (EVN) at 1.39 GHz. Whereas the pulsed emission is detected at a level consistent with previous observations, we report absence of any off-pulse emission above $42$ and $96 mathrm{mu Jy beam^{-1}}$ (three times the rms noise levels) for B0525+21 and B2045-16, respectively. Our stringent upper limits imply the off-pulse emission to be less than $0.4$ and $0.3%$ of the period-averaged pulsed flux density, i.e., much fainter than the previously suggested values of $1$-$10%$. Since the EVN data are most sensitive to extremely compact angular scales, our results suggest a non-magnetospheric origin for the previously reported off-pulse emission. Presence of extended emission that is resolved out on these milliarcsecond scales still remains plausible. In this case, we constrain the emission to arise from structures with sizes of $sim (0.61$-$19) times 10^3 mathrm{au}$ for B0525+21 and $sim (0.48$-$8.3) times 10^3 mathrm{au}$ for B2045-16. These constraints might indicate that the two pulsars are accompanied by compact bow-shock pulsar wind nebulae. Future observations probing intermediate angular scales ($sim 0.1$-$5 mathrm{arcsec}$) will help in clarifying the actual origin of the off-pulse emission.
A detailed analysis of nulling was conducted for the pulsars studied in the Meterwavelength Single-pulse Polarimetric Emission Survey. We characterized nulling in 36 pulsars including 17 pulsars where the phenomena were reported for the first time. The most dominant nulls lasted for short durations, less than five periods. The longer duration nulls extending to hundreds of periods were also seen in some cases. A careful analysis showed the presence of periodicities in the transition from the null to the burst states in 11 pulsars. In our earlier work fluctuation spectrum analysis showed multiple periodicities in 6 of these 11 pulsars. We demonstrate that the longer periodicity in each case was associated with nulling. The shorter periodicities usually originate due to subpulse drifting. The nulling periodicities were more aligned with the periodic amplitude modulation indicating a possible common origin for both. Most prevalent nulling lasts for a single period and can be potentially explained using random variations affecting the plasma processes in the pulsar magnetosphere. On the other hand, the longer duration nulls require changes in the pair production processes that need an external triggering mechanism for the change. The presence of periodic nulling puts an added constrain on the triggering mechanism which also needs to be periodic.
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