arXiv subjects

J. -M. Griessmeier

Publications and source records attributed to J. -M. Griessmeier.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Science Using Single-Pulse Exploration with Combined Telescopes: II. Pulse profile evolution and single-pulse modulation

Aims. We aim to illuminate how the pulsars' integrated pulse profiles and single-pulse modulation evolve with radio frequency, while separating intrinsic and propagation effects. Methods. We present integrated pulse profiles and phase-resolved modulation indices for 12 radio pulsars at up to five frequency bands. Our wideband dataset was systematically acquired with the Nancay Radio Observatory telescopes and the uGMRT, covering the frequency range 10 MHz to 2.8 GHz, including NenuFAR, LOFAR FR606, uGMRT, and NRT observations. We carefully measured the pulse widths and scattering times using multi-component profile fitting. We employed a profile width scaling model to separate the profile evolution into scattering and intrinsic contributions. We quantified the pulsars' single-pulse variability across frequency. Results. We describe the pulse profile evolution. Two pulsars have scattering indices compatible with Kolmogorov turbulence, while the majority have flatter scattering indices. This suggests complex scattering environments, dominated by localised turbulence. Complex scattering behaviour is seen in some pulsars, and most profiles are scattering-dominated below 200 MHz. The measured intrinsic power law indices are small, with absolute values between 0 and 0.3. Five pulsars exhibit decreasing intrinsic widths, two or three pulsars show flat behaviour, and four pulsars have increasing profile widths with frequency. Accounting for biases, most pulsar modulation parameters decrease with frequency, while three pulsars show flat behaviour. Conclusions. The pulse width evolution is explained by intrinsic radio beam narrowing, the emergence of profile components, and the balance between the two. Our modulation analysis indicates that the single-pulse emission from most of our pulsars becomes more erratic towards lower radio frequencies, consistent with increasing amplitude modulation.

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arXiv2026

Periodicities in radio emissions from the Jupiter's magnetosphere and consequences for radio emissions from star-exoplanet systems

The search for radio signals from exoplanets or star-planet interactions is a topic of major scientific interest, as it is likely the best way to detect and measure a planetary magnetic field and, therefore, to probe the inner structure of exoplanets. However, detecting these radio emissions is challenging, since they are anisotropic by nature, sporadic, and of low intensity because of their great distances, and because the sky cannot be monitored continuously. The aim of this article is to demonstrate the relevance of using statistical tools to detect periodic radio signals in unevenly spaced observations, and identify the implications of the measured period. The identification of periodic radio signals is achieved here by a Lomb-Scargle analysis. We first apply the technique to simulated astrophysical observations with controlled simulated noise. This allows us to characterize the origin of spurious detection peaks in the resulting periodograms, as well as to identify peaks corresponding to real periods in the studied system, and to harmonic or beat periods. We then validate this method with a real signal, using approximately 1400 hours of data from observations of Jupiter's radio emissions by the NenuFAR radio telescope over more than six years, to detect the periodicities of Jovian radio emissions (auroral and induced by the Galilean moons). We demonstrate with the simulation that the LombScargle periodogram allows us to correctly identify periodic radio signals, even in a diluted signal. On real measurements, it correctly detects the rotation period of the strong signal produced by Jupiter and the beat period of the emission triggered by the interaction between Jupiter and its Galilean moon Io, ...

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arXiv2025

Science Using Single-Pulse Exploration with Combined Telescopes. I. The mode switching, flaring, and single-pulse morphology of PSR B1822-09

Aims. We aim to elucidate the pulsar radio emission by studying several single-pulse phenomena, how they relate, and how they evolve with observing frequency. We intend to inspire models for the pulsar radio emission and fast radio bursts. Methods. We set up an observing programme called the SUSPECT project running at the Nancay Radio Observatory telescopes in France (10-85 MHz, 110-240 MHz, and 1.1-3.5GHz) and the upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (uGMRT) in India. This first paper focuses on high sensitivity data of PSR B1822-09 obtained with the uGMRT between 550 and 750 MHz. The pulsar has precursor (PC), main pulse (MP), and interpulse (IP) emission and exhibits mode switching. We present its single-pulse stacks, investigate its mode switching using a hidden Markov switching model, and analyse its single-pulse morphology. Results. PSR B1822-09's pulse profile decomposes into seven components. We show that its mode switching is well described using a hidden Markov switching model operating on single-pulse profile features. The pulsar exhibits at least three stable emission modes, one of which is a newly discovered bright flaring Bf-mode. We confirm that the PC and MP switch synchronously to each other and both asynchronously to the IP, indicating information transfer between the polar caps. Additionally, we performed a fluctuation spectral analysis and discovered three fluctuation features in its quiescent Q-mode emission, one of which is well known. We conclude that the latter feature is due to longitude-stationary amplitude modulation. Finally, we visually classified the single pulses into four categories. We found extensive microstructure in the PC with a typical duration of 0.2-0.4 ms and a quasi-periodicity of 0.8 ms. There is clear evidence of mode mixing. We discovered low-intensity square-like pulses and extremely bright pulses in the MP, which suggest bursting.

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arXiv2024

Mass estimates from optical modelling of the new TRAPUM redback PSR J1910-5320

Spider pulsars continue to provide promising candidates for neutron star mass measurements. Here we present the discovery of PSR~J1910$-$5320, a new millisecond pulsar discovered in a MeerKAT observation of an unidentified \textit{Fermi}-LAT gamma-ray source. This pulsar is coincident with a recently identified candidate redback binary, independently discovered through its periodic optical flux and radial velocity. New multi-color optical light curves obtained with ULTRACAM/NTT in combination with MeerKAT timing and updated SOAR/Goodman spectroscopic radial velocity measurements allow a mass constraint for PSR~J1910$-$5320. \texttt{Icarus} optical light curve modelling, with streamlined radial velocity fitting, constrains the orbital inclination and companion velocity, unlocking the binary mass function given the precise radio ephemeris. Our modelling aims to unite the photometric and spectroscopic measurements available by fitting each simultaneously to the same underlying physical model, ensuring self-consistency. This targets centre-of-light radial velocity corrections necessitated by the irradiation endemic to spider systems. Depending on the gravity darkening prescription used, we find a moderate neutron star mass of either $1.6\pm0.2$ or $1.4\pm0.2$ $M_\odot$. The companion mass of either $0.45\pm0.04$ or $0.43^{+0.04}_{-0.03}$ $M_\odot$ also further confirms PSR~J1910$-$5320 as an irradiated redback spider pulsar.radiated redback spider pulsar.

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arXiv2023

PALANTIR: an updated prediction tool for exoplanetary radio emissions

In the past two decades, it has been convincingly argued that magnetospheric radio emissions, of cyclotron maser origin, can occur for exoplanetary systems, similarly as solar planets, with the same periodicity as the planetary orbit. These emissions are primarily expected at low frequencies (usually below 100 MHz, c.f. Farrell et al., 1999; Zarka, 2007). The radio detection of exoplanets will considerably expand the field of comparative magnetospheric physics and star-planet plasma interactions (Hess & Zarka, 2011). We have developed a prediction code for exoplanetary radio emissions, PALANTIR: "Prediction Algorithm for star-pLANeT Interactions in Radio". This code has been developed for the construction of an up-to-date and evolutive target catalog, based on observed exoplanet physical parameters, radio emission theory, and magnetospheric physics embedded in scaling laws. It is based on, and extends, previous work by Grießmeier et al. (2007b). Using PALANTIR, we prepared an updated list of targets of interest for radio emissions. Additionally, we compare our results with previous studies conducted with similar models (Grießmeier, 2017). For the next steps, we aim at improving this code by adding new models and updating those already used.

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arXiv2022

Determining the beaming of Io decametric emissions : a remote diagnostic to probe the Io-Jupiter interaction

We investigate the beaming of 11 Io-Jupiter decametric (Io-DAM) emissions observed by Juno/Waves, the Nan\c cay Decameter Array and NenuFAR. Using an up-to-date magnetic field model and three methods to position the active Io Flux Tube (IFT), we accurately locate the radiosources and determine their emission angle $θ$ from the local magnetic field vector. These methods use (i) updated models of the IFT equatorial lead angle, (ii) ultraviolet (UV) images of Jupiter's aurorae and (iii) multi-point radio measurements. The kinetic energy $E_{e-}$ of source electrons is then inferred from $θ$ in the framework of the Cyclotron Maser Instability. The precise position of the active IFT achieved from methods (ii,iii) can be used to test the effective torus plasma density. Simultaneous radio/UV observations reveal that multiple Io-DAM arcs are associated with multiple UV spots and provide the first direct evidence of an Io-DAM arc associated with a trans-hemispheric beam UV spot. Multi-point radio observations probe the Io-DAM sources at various altitudes, times and hemispheres. Overall, $θ$ varies a function of frequency (altitude), by decreasing from $75^\circ-80^\circ$ to $70^\circ-75^\circ$ over $10-40$ MHz with slightly larger values in the northern hemisphere, and independently varies as a function of time (or longitude of Io). Its uncertainty of a few degrees is dominated by the error on the longitude of the active IFT. The inferred values of $E_{e-}$ also vary as a function of altitude and time. For the 11 investigated cases, they range from 3 to 16 keV, with a $6.6\pm2.7$ keV average.

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arXiv2021

Sub-arcsecond imaging with the International LOFAR Telescope: II. Completion of the LOFAR Long-Baseline Calibrator Survey

The Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) Long-Baseline Calibrator Survey (LBCS) was conducted between 2014 and 2019 in order to obtain a set of suitable calibrators for the LOFAR array. In this paper we present the complete survey, building on the preliminary analysis published in 2016 which covered approximately half the survey area. The final catalogue consists of 30006 observations of 24713 sources in the northern sky, selected for a combination of high low-frequency radio flux density and flat spectral index using existing surveys (WENSS, NVSS, VLSS, and MSSS). Approximately one calibrator per square degree, suitable for calibration of $\geq$ 200 km baselines is identified by the detection of compact flux density, for declinations north of 30 degrees and away from the Galactic plane, with a considerably lower density south of this point due to relative difficulty in selecting flat-spectrum candidate sources in this area of the sky. Use of the VLBA calibrator list, together with statistical arguments by comparison with flux densities from lower-resolution catalogues, allow us to establish a rough flux density scale for the LBCS observations, so that LBCS statistics can be used to estimate compact flux densities on scales between 300 mas and 2 arcsec, for sources observed in the survey. The LBCS can be used to assess the structures of point sources in lower-resolution surveys, with significant reductions in the degree of coherence in these sources on scales between 2 arcsec and 300 mas. The LBCS survey sources show a greater incidence of compact flux density in quasars than in radio galaxies, consistent with unified schemes of radio sources. Comparison with samples of sources from interplanetary scintillation (IPS) studies with the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) shows consistent patterns of detection of compact structure in sources observed both interferometrically with LOFAR and using IPS.

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arXiv2019

A LOFAR census of non-recycled pulsars: extending below 80 MHz

We present the results from the low-frequency (40--78 MHz) extension of the first LOFAR pulsar census of non-recycled pulsars. We have used the Low-Band Antennas of the LOFAR core stations to observe 87 pulsars out of 158 that have been detected previously with the High-Band Antennas. Forty-three pulsars have been detected and we present here their flux densities and flux-calibrated profiles. Seventeen of these pulsars have not been, to our knowledge, detected before at such low frequencies. We re-calculate the spectral indices using the new low-frequency flux density measurements from the LOFAR census and discuss the prospects of studying pulsars at the very low frequencies with the current and upcoming facilities, such as NenuFAR.

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arXiv2019

The LOFAR Tied-Array All-Sky Survey (LOTAAS): Survey overview and initial pulsar discoveries

We present an overview of the LOFAR Tied-Array All-Sky Survey (LOTAAS) for radio pulsars and fast transients. The survey uses the high-band antennas of the LOFAR Superterp, the dense inner part of the LOFAR core, to survey the northern sky (dec > 0 deg) at a central observing frequency of 135 MHz. A total of 219 tied-array beams (coherent summation of station signals, covering 12 square degrees), as well as three incoherent beams (covering 67 square degrees) are formed in each survey pointing. For each ofthe 222 beams, total intensity is recorded at 491.52 us time resolution. Each observation integrates for 1 hr and covers 2592 channels from 119 to 151 MHz. This instrumental setup allows LOTAAS to reach a detection threshold of 1 to 5 mJy for periodic emission. Thus far, the LOTAAS survey has resulted in the discovery of 73 radio pulsars. Among these are two mildly recycled binary millisecond pulsars (P = 13 and 33 ms), as well as the slowest-spinning radio pulsar currently known (P = 23.5 s). The survey has thus far detected 311 known pulsars, with spin periods ranging from 4 ms to 5.0 s and dispersion measures from 3.0 to 217 pc/cc. Known pulsars are detected at flux densities consistent with literature values. We find that the LOTAAS pulsar discoveries have, on average, longer spin periods than the known pulsar population. This may reflect different selection biases between LOTAAS and previous surveys, though it is also possible that slower-spinning pulsars preferentially have steeper radio spectra. LOTAAS is the deepest all-sky pulsar survey using a digital aperture array; we discuss some of the lessons learned that can inform the approach for similar surveys using future radio telescopes such as the Square Kilometre Array.

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arXiv2019

On the usefulness of existing Solar-wind models for pulsar timing corrections

Dispersive delays due to the Solar wind introduce excess noise in high-precision pulsar timing experiments, and must be removed in order to achieve the accuracy needed to detect, e.g., low-frequency gravitational waves. In current pulsar timing experiments, this delay is usually removed by approximating the electron density distribution in the Solar wind either as spherically symmetric, or with a two-phase model that describes the contributions from both high- and low-speed phases of the Solar wind. However, no dataset has previously been available to test the performance and limitations of these models over extended timescales and with sufficient sensitivity. Here we present the results of such a test with an optimal dataset of observations of pulsar J0034-0534, taken with the German stations of LOFAR. We conclude that the spherical approximation performs systematically better than the two-phase model at almost all angular distances, with a residual root-mean-square (rms) given by the two-phase model being up to 28% larger than the result obtained with the spherical approximation. Nevertheless, the spherical approximation remains insufficiently accurate in modelling the Solar-wind delay (especially within 20 degrees of angular distance from the Sun), as it leaves timing residuals with rms values that reach the equivalent of 0.3 microseconds at 1400 MHz. This is because a spherical model ignores the large daily variations in electron density observed in the Solar wind. In the short term, broadband observations or simultaneous observations at low frequencies are the most promising way forward to correct for Solar-wind induced delay variations.

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arXiv2018

French SKA White Book - The French Community towards the Square Kilometre Array

The "Square Kilometre Array" (SKA) is a large international radio telescope project characterised, as suggested by its name, by a total collecting area of approximately one square kilometre, and consisting of several interferometric arrays to observe at metric and centimetric wavelengths. The deployment of the SKA will take place in two sites, in South Africa and Australia, and in two successive phases. From its Phase 1, the SKA will be one of the most formidable scientific machines ever deployed by mankind, and by far the most impressive in terms of data throughput and required computing power. With the participation of almost 200 authors from forty research institutes and six private companies, the publication of this French SKA white paper illustrates the strong involvement in the SKA project of the French astronomical community and of a rapidly growing number of major scientific and technological players in the fields of Big Data, high performance computing, energy production and storage, as well as system integration.

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arXiv2018

Magnetic Fields of Extrasolar Planets: Planetary Interiors and Habitability

Jupiter's radio emission has been linked to its planetary-scale magnetic field, and spacecraft investigations have revealed that most planets, and some moons, have or had a global magnetic field. Generated by internal dynamos, magnetic fields are one of the few remote sensing means of constraining the properties of planetary interiors. For the Earth, its magnetic field has been speculated to be partially responsible for its habitability, and knowledge of an extrasolar planet's magnetic field may be necessary to assess its habitability. The radio emission from Jupiter and other solar system planets is produced by an electron cyclotron maser, and detections of extrasolar planetary electron cyclotron masers will enable measurements of extrasolar planetary magnetic fields. This white paper draws heavily on the W. M. Keck Institute for Space Studies report Planetary Magnetic Fields: Planetary Interiors and Habitability (Lazio, Shkolnik, Hallinan, et al.), it incorporates topics discussed at the American Astronomical Society Topical Conference "Radio Exploration of Planetary Habitability," it complements the Astrobiology Science Strategy white paper "Life Beyond the Solar System: Space Weather and Its Impact on Habitable Worlds" (Airapetian et al.), and it addresses aspects of planetary magnetic fields discussed in the NASA Astrobiology Strategy.

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arXiv2017

X-rays from the mode-switching PSR B0943+10

New simultaneous X-ray and radio observations of the archetypal mode-switching pulsar PSR B0943+10 have been carried out with XMM-Newton and the LOFAR, LWA and Arecibo radio telescopes in November 2014. They allowed us to better constrain the X-ray spectral and variability properties of this pulsar and to detect, for the first time, the X-ray pulsations also during the X-ray-fainter mode. The combined timing and spectral analysis indicates that unpulsed non-thermal emission, likely of magnetospheric origin, and pulsed thermal emission from a small polar cap are present during both radio modes and vary in a correlated way.

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arXiv2017

A millisecond pulsar discovery in a survey of unidentified Fermi $γ$-ray sources with LOFAR

Using LOFAR, we have performed a very-low-frequency (115-155 MHz) radio survey for millisecond pulsars (MSPs). The survey targeted 52 unidentified Fermi $γ$-ray sources. Employing a combination of coherent and incoherent dedispersion, we have mitigated the dispersive effects of the interstellar medium while maintaining sensitivity to fast-spinning pulsars. Toward 3FGL J1553.1+5437 we have found PSR J1552+5437, the first MSP to be discovered (through its pulsations) at a radio frequency $<$ 200 MHz. PSR J1552+5437 is an isolated MSP with a 2.43 ms spin period and a dispersion measure of 22.9 pc cm$^{-3}$. The pulsar has a very steep radio spectral index ($α< -$2.8 $\pm$ 0.4). We obtain a phase-connected timing solution combining the 0.74 years of radio observations with $γ$-ray photon arrival times covering 7.5 years of Fermi observations. We find that the radio and $γ$-ray pulse profiles of PSR J1552+5437 appear to be nearly aligned. The very steep spectrum of PSR J1552+5437, along with other recent discoveries, hints at a population of radio MSPs that have been missed in surveys using higher observing frequencies. Detecting such steep spectrum sources is important for mapping the population of MSPs down to the shortest spin periods, understanding their emission in comparison to slow pulsars, and quantifying the prospects for future surveys with low-frequency radio telescopes like SKA-Low and its precursors.

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arXiv2016

A deep campaign to characterize the synchronous radio/X-ray mode switching of PSR B0943+10

We report on simultaneous X-ray and radio observations of the mode-switching pulsar PSR B0943+10 obtained with the XMM-Newton satellite and the LOFAR, LWA and Arecibo radio telescopes in November 2014. We confirm the synchronous X-ray/radio switching between a radio-bright (B) and a radio-quiet (Q) mode, in which the X-ray flux is a factor ~2.4 higher than in the B-mode. We discovered X-ray pulsations, with pulsed fraction of 38+/-5% (0.5-2 keV), during the B-mode, and confirm their presence in Q-mode, where the pulsed fraction increases with energy from ~20% up to ~65% at 2 keV. We found marginal evidence for an increase in the X-ray pulsed fraction during B-mode on a timescale of hours. The Q-mode X-ray spectrum requires a fit with a two-component model (either a power-law plus blackbody or the sum of two blackbodies), while the B-mode spectrum is well fit by a single blackbody (a single power-law is rejected). With a maximum likelihood analysis, we found that in Q-mode the pulsed emission has a thermal blackbody spectrum with temperature ~3.4x10^6 K and the unpulsed emission is a power-law with photon index ~2.5, while during B-mode both the pulsed and unpulsed emission can be fit by either a blackbody or a power law with similar values of temperature and photon index. A Chandra image shows no evidence for diffuse X-ray emission. These results support a scenario in which both unpulsed non-thermal emission, likely of magnetospheric origin, and pulsed thermal emission from a small polar cap (~1500 m^2) with a strong non-dipolar magnetic field (~10^{14} G), are present during both radio modes and vary in intensity in a correlated way. This is broadly consistent with the predictions of the partially screened gap model and does not necessarily imply global magnetospheric rearrangements to explain the mode switching.

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arXiv2016

The Search for Signatures Of Transient Mass Loss in Active Stars

The habitability of an exoplanet depends on many factors. One such factor is the impact of stellar eruptive events on nearby exoplanets. Currently this is poorly constrained due to heavy reliance on solar scaling relationships and a lack of experimental evidence. Potential impacts of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), which are a large eruption of magnetic field and plasma from a star, are space weather and atmospheric stripping. A method for observing CMEs as they travel though the stellar atmosphere is the type II radio burst, and the new LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) provides a means for detection. We report on 15 hours of observation of YZ Canis Minoris (YZ CMi), a nearby M dwarf flare star, taken in LOFAR's beam-formed observation mode for the purposes of measuring transient frequency-dependent low frequency radio emission. The observations utilized Low-Band Antenna (10-90 MHz) or High-Band Antenna (110-190 MHz) for five three-hour observation periods. In this data set, there were no confirmed type II events in this frequency range. We explore the range of parameter space for type II bursts constrained by our observations Assuming the rate of shocks is a lower limit to the rate at which CMEs occur, no detections in a total of 15 hours of observation places a limit of $ν_{type II} < 0.0667$ shocks/hr $ \leq ν_{CME}$ for YZ CMi due to the stochastic nature of the events and limits of observational sensitivity. We propose a methodology to interpret jointly observed flares and CMEs which will provide greater constraints to CMEs and test the applicability of solar scaling relations.

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arXiv2015

Limits on Fast Radio Bursts at 145 MHz with ARTEMIS, a real-time software backend

Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs), are millisecond radio signals that exhibit dispersion larger than what the Galactic electron density can account for. We have conducted a 1446 hour survey for Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) at 145~MHz, covering a total of 4193 sq. deg on the sky. We used the UK station of the LOFAR radio telescope -- the Rawlings Array -- , accompanied for a majority of the time by the LOFAR station at Nançay, observing the same fields at the same frequency. Our real-time search backend, ARTEMIS, utilizes graphics processing units to search for pulses with dispersion measures up to 320 cm$^{-3}$ pc. Previous derived FRB rates from surveys around 1.4~GHz, and favoured FRB interpretations, motivated this survey, despite all previous detections occurring at higher dispersion measures. We detected no new FRBs above a signal-to-noise threshold of 10, leading to the most stringent upper limit yet on the FRB event rate at these frequencies: 29 sky$^{-1}$ day$^{-1}$ for 5~ms-duration pulses above 62~Jy. The non-detection could be due to scatter-broadening, limitations on the volume and time searched, or the shape of FRB flux density spectra. Assuming the latter and that FRBs are standard candles, the non-detection is compatible with the published FRB sky rate, if their spectra follow a power law with frequency ($\propto ν^α$), with $α\gtrsim+0.1$, demonstrating a marked difference from pulsar spectra. Our results suggest that surveys at higher frequencies, including the low frequency component of the Square Kilometre Array, will have better chances to detect, estimate rates and understand the origin and properties of FRBs.

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arXiv2014

LOFAR observations of PSR B0943+10: profile evolution and discovery of a systematically changing profile delay in Bright mode

We present broadband, low-frequency (25-80 MHz and 110-190 MHz) LOFAR observations of PSR B0943+10, with the goal of better illuminating the nature of its enigmatic mode-switching behaviour. This pulsar shows two relatively stable states: a Bright (B) and Quiet (Q) mode, each with different characteristic brightness, profile morphology, and single-pulse properties. We model the average profile evolution both in frequency and time from the onset of each mode, and highlight the differences between the two modes. In both modes, the profile evolution can be well explained by radius-to-frequency mapping at altitudes within a few hundred kilometres of the stellar surface. If both B and Q-mode emission originate at the same magnetic latitude, then we find that the change of emission height between the modes is less than 6%. We also find that, during B-mode, the average profile is gradually shifting towards later spin phase and then resets its position at the next Q-to-B transition. The observed B-mode profile delay is frequency-independent (at least from 25-80 MHz) and asymptotically changes towards a stable value of about 0.004 in spin phase by the end of mode instance, much too large to be due to changing spin-down rate. Such a delay can be interpreted as a gradual movement of the emission cone against the pulsar's direction of rotation, with different field lines being illuminated over time. Another interesting explanation is a possible variation of accelerating potential inside the polar gap. This explanation connects the observed profile delay to the gradually evolving subpulse drift rate, which depends on the gradient of the potential across the field lines.

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