arXiv subjects

J. L. Han

Publications and source records attributed to J. L. Han.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2025

Radio emission across the entire rotation phases of pulsars

Super-sensitive observations of bright pulsars by the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) have revealed weak radio emission continuously emerged in the rotation phases between the main pulse and interpulse of an rotating neutron star. We develop a model for the polarized radio emission radiated from different heights in the pulsar magnetosphere and examine emission intensity distribution over the whole rotation phases of pulsars seen from all directions by the line of sight. We find that for pulsars with small periods and the magnetosphere filled with much more relativistic particles, the polarized radio emission can be generated in all rotation phases for both the aligned and perpendicular rotating neutron stars. When the line of sight cuts the pulsar emission beam between the rotation and magnetic axes, the polarization angles have the same sense of variation gradient for the ``main'' pulse and ``interpulse''. If the line of sight cuts the beams between the inclined magnetic axis and the equator, the opposite senses can be found for the main pulse and interpulse. In addition to the pulsed emission, we find persistent radio emission generated in the pulsar magnetosphere. The model can naturally explain the emission across the entire rotation phases.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

Ninety percent circular polarization detected in a repeating fast radio burst

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are extra-galactic sources with unknown physical mechanisms. They emit millisecond-duration radio pulses with isotropic equivalent energy of $10^{36}\sim10^{41}$ ergs. This corresponds to a brightness temperature of FRB emission typically reaching the level of $10^{36}$ K, but can be as high as above $10^{40}$ K for sub-microsecond timescale structures, suggesting the presence of underlying coherent relativistic radiation mechanisms. Polarization carries the key information to understand the physical origin of FRBs, with linear polarization usually tracing the geometric configuration of magnetic fields and circular polarization probing both intrinsic radiation mechanisms and propagation effects. Here we show that the repeating sources FRB 20201124A emits $90.9\pm 1.1\%$ circularly polarized radio pulses. Such a high degree of circular polarization was unexpected in theory and unprecedented in observation in the case of FRBs, since such a high degree of circular polarization was only common among Solar or Jovian radio activities, attributed to the sub-relativistic electrons. We note that there is no obvious correlation between the degree of circular polarization and burst fluence. Besides the high degree of circular polarization, we also detected rapid swing and orthogonal jump in the position angle of linear polarization. The detection of the high degree circular polarization in FRB 20201124A, together with its linear polarization properties that show orthogonal modes, place strong constraints on FRB physical mechanisms, calling for an interplay between magnetospheric radiation and propagation effects in shaping the observed FRB radiation.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

The FAST Galactic Plane Pulsar Snapshot survey: VIII. 116 binary pulsars

Finding pulsars in binaries are important for measurements of the masses of neutron stars, for tests of gravity theories, and for studies of star evolution. We are carrying out the Galactic Plane Pulsar Snapshot survey (GPPS) by using the the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST). Here we present the Keplerian parameters for 116 newly discovered pulsars in the FAST GPPS survey, and obtain timing solutions for 29 pulsars. Companions of these pulsars are He white dwarfs, CO/ONe white dwarfs, neutron stars, main sequence stars and ultra light objects or even planets. Our observations uncover eclipses of 8 binary systems. The optical counterpart for the companion of PSR J1908+1036 is identified. The Post-Keplerian parameter $\dotω$ for the double neutron star systems PSR J0528+3529 and J1844-0128 have been measured, with which the total masses of the binary systems are determined.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

The FAST Galactic Plane Pulsar Snapshot Survey: VII. Six millisecond pulsars in compact orbits with massive white dwarf companions

Binary millisecond pulsars with a massive white dwarf (WD) companion are intermediate-mass binary pulsars (IMBPs). They are formed via the Case BB Roche-lobe overflow evolution channel if they are in compact orbits with an orbital period of less than 1 day. They are fairly rare in the known pulsar population; only five such IMBPs have been discovered before, and one of them is in a globular cluster. Here we report six IMBPs in compact orbits: PSRs J0416+5201, J0520+3722, J1919+1341, J1943+2210, J1947+2304 and J2023+2853, discovered during the Galactic Plane Pulsar Snapshot survey by using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope, doubling the number of such IMBPs due to the high survey sensitivity in the short survey time of 5 minutes. Follow-up timing observations show that they all have either a CO WD or an ONeMg WD companion with a mass greater than about 0.8~$M_\odot$ in a very circular orbit with an eccentricity in the order of $\lesssim10^{-5}$. PSR J0416+5201 should be an ONeMg WD companion with a remarkable minimum mass of 1.28 $M_\odot$. These massive WD companions lead to a detectable Shapiro delay for PSRs J0416+5201, J0520+3722, J1943+2210, and J2023 +2853, indicating that their orbits are highly inclined. From the measurement of the Shapiro delay, the pulsar mass of J1943+2210 was constrained to be 1.84$^{\,+0.11}_{-0.09}$~$M_\odot$, and that of PSR J2023+2853 to be 1.28$^{\,+0.06}_{-0.05}$~$M_\odot$.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

Searching radio signals from two magnetars and a high-magnetic field pulsar and the serendipitous discovery of a new radio pulsar PSR J1935+2200

Magnetars are slowly rotating, highly magnetized young neutron stars that can show transient radio phenomena for radio pulses and fast radio bursts. We conducted radio observations of from two magnetars SGR$~$J1935+2154 and 3XMM$~$J185246.6+003317 and a high-magnetic field pulsar PSR$~$J1846$-$0258 using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST). We performed single pulse and periodicity searches and did not detect radio signals from them. From the piggyback data recorded by other FAST telescope beams when we observed the magnetar SGR$~$1935+2154, we serendipitously discovered a new radio pulsar, PSR$~$J1935+2200. We carried out the follow-up observations and obtained the timing solution based on these new observations and the archive FAST data. PSR$~$J1935+2200 is an isolated old pulsar, with a spin period of $0.91$s, a spin-period derivative of $9.19 \times 10^{-15}$~s~s$^{-1}$, and a characteristic age of $1.57$ Myr. It is a weak pulsar with a flux density of 9.8 $μ$Jy at 1.25 GHz. Discovery of a new pulsar from the long FAST observations of 30 minutes implies that there may be more weak older pulsars in the Galactic disk to be discovered.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

The FAST Galactic Plane Pulsar Snapshot survey: VI. The discovery of 473 new pulsars

The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) is the most sensitive telescope at the $L$-band (1.0-1.5 GHz) and has been used to carry out the FAST Galactic Plane Pulsar Snapshot (GPPS) survey in the last 5 yr. Up to now, the survey has covered one-fourth of the planned areas within $\pm10^{\circ}$ from the Galactic plane visible by FAST, and discovered 751 pulsars. After the first publication of the discovery of 201 pulsars and one rotating radio transient (RRAT) in 2021 and 76 RRATs in 2023, here we report the discovery of 473 new pulsars from the FAST GPPS survey, including 137 new millisecond pulsars and 30 new RRATs. We find 34 millisecond pulsars discovered by the GPPS survey which can be timed with a precision better than 3 $μ$s by using FAST 15 minute observations and can be used for pulsar timing arrays. The GPPS survey has discovered eight pulsars with periods greater than 10 s including one with 29.77 s. The integrated profiles of pulsars and individual pulses of RRATs are presented. During the FAST GPPS survey, we also detected previously known pulsars and updated parameters for 52 pulsars. In addition, we discovered two fast radio bursts plus one probable case with high dispersion measures indicating their extragalactic origin.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

A universal break in energy functions of three hyperactive repeating fast radio bursts

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are millisecond-duration pulses occurring at cosmological distances with a mysterious origin. Observations show that at least some FRBs are produced by magnetars. All magnetar-powered FRB models require some triggering mechanisms, among which the most popular is the crust cracking of a neutron star, which is called starquake. However, so far there has been no decisive evidence for this speculation. Here we report the energy functions of the three most active repeating FRBs, which show a universal break around $10^{38}$ erg. Such a break is similar to that of the frequency-magnitude relationship of earthquakes. The break and change of the power-law indices below and above it can be well understood within the framework of FRBs triggered by starquakes in the magnetar models. The seed of weak FRBs can grow both on the magnetar surface and in the deeper crust. In contrast, the triggering of strong FRBs is confined by the crustal thickness and the seed of strong FRBs can only grow on the surface. This difference in dimensionality causes a break in the scaling properties from weak to strong FRBs, occurring at a point where the penetration depth of starquakes equals the crustal thickness. Our result, together with the earthquake-like temporal properties of these FRBs, strongly supports that FRBs are triggered by starquakes, providing a new opportunity to study the physical properties of the neutron star crust.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

Sudden polarization angle jumps of the repeating fast radio burst FRB 20201124A

We report the first detection of polarization angle (PA) orthogonal jumps, a phenomenon previously only observed from radio pulsars, from a fast radio burst (FRB) source FRB 20201124A. We find three cases of orthogonal jumps in over two thousand bursts, all resembling those observed in pulsar single pulses. We propose that the jumps are due to the superposition of two orthogonal emission modes that could only be produced in a highly magnetized plasma, and they are caused by the line of sight sweeping across a rotating magnetosphere. The shortest jump timescale is of the order of one-millisecond, which hints that the emission modes come from regions smaller than the light cylinder of most pulsars or magnetars. This discovery provides convincing evidence that FRB emission originates from the complex magnetosphere of a magnetar, suggesting an FRB emission mechanism that is analogous to radio pulsars despite a huge luminosity difference between two types of objects.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

Faraday moments of the Southern Twenty-centimeter All-sky Polarization Survey (STAPS)

Faraday tomography of broadband radio polarization surveys enables us to study magnetic fields and their interaction with the interstellar medium (ISM). Such surveys include the Global Magneto-Ionic Medium Survey (GMIMS), which covers the northern and southern hemispheres at $\sim$ 300-1800 MHz. In this work, we used the GMIMS High Band South (1328-1768 MHz), also named the Southern Twenty-centimeter All-sky Polarization Survey (STAPS), which observes the southern sky at a resolution of 18$\arcmin$. To extract the key parameters of the magnetized ISM from STAPS, we computed the Faraday moments of the tomographic data cubes. These moments include the total polarized intensity, the mean Faraday depth weighted by the polarized intensity, the weighted dispersion of the Faraday spectrum, and its skewness. We compared the Faraday moments to those calculated over the same frequency range in the northern sky (using the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory, DRAO), in a strip of $360\degr \times 30\degr$ that overlaps with STAPS coverage. We find that the total polarized intensity is generally dominated by diffuse emission that decreases at longitudes of $l \leq 300\degr$. The Faraday moments reveal a variety of polarization structures. Low-intensity regions at high latitudes usually have a single Faraday depth component. Due to its insufficiently large frequency coverage, STAPS cannot detect Faraday thick structures. Comparing the Faraday depths from STAPS to total rotation measures from extragalactic sources suggests that STAPS frequencies are high enough that the intervening ISM causes depolarization to background emission at intermediate and high Galactic latitudes. Where they overlap, the STAPS and DRAO surveys exhibit broad correspondence but differ in polarized intensity by a factor of $\sim$1.8.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2024

A catalogue of merging clusters of galaxies: cluster partners, merging subclusters, and post-collision clusters

Clusters of galaxies are merging during the formation of large-scale structures in the Universe. Based on optical survey data, we identify a large sample of pre-mergers of galaxy clusters and merging subclusters in rich clusters. We find 39,382 partners within a velocity difference of 1500 km/s and a projected separation of 5r_{500} around 33,126 main clusters, where r_{500} is the radius of the main cluster. Based on the galaxy distribution inside rich clusters with more than 30 member galaxy candidates, we identify subclusters by modeling the smoothed optical distribution with a two-component profile, and a coupling factor is obtained for merging subclusters in 7845 clusters. In addition, we find 3446 post-collision mergers according to the deviations of brightest cluster galaxies from other member galaxies, most of which have been partially validated by using the Chandra and XMM-Newton X-ray images. Two new bullet-like clusters have been identified by using the optical and X-ray images. The large samples of merging clusters of galaxies presented here are important databases for studying the hierarchical structure formation, cluster evolution, and the physics of intergalactic medium.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

The Huge Magnetic Toroids in the Milky Way Halo

The magnetic fields in our Milky Way can be revealed by the distribution of Faraday rotation measures (RMs) of radio sources behind the Galaxy and of radio pulsars inside the Galaxy. Based on the antisymmetry of the Faraday sky in the inner Galaxy to the Galactic coordinates, the magnetic field toroids above and below the Galactic plane with reversed field directions exist in the Galactic halo and have been included in almost all models for the global magnetic structure in the Milky Way. However, the quantitative parameters, such as the field strength, the scale height, and the scale radius of the toroids are hard to determine from observational data. It has long been argued that the RM antisymmetry could be dominated by the local contributions of the interstellar medium. Here we discount the local RM contributions measured by pulsars mostly located within 5 kpc and get the first quantitative estimate of the size of magnetic toroids in the Galactic halo. They are huge, starting from a Galactocentric radius of less than 2 kpc to at least 15 kpc without field direction reversals. Such magnetic toroids in the Galactic halo should naturally constrain the physical processes in galaxies.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2024

Gravitational wave radiation from magnetar-driven supernovae

Rapidly spinning magnetars are potential candidates for the energy source of supernovae (SNe) and gamma-ray bursts and the most promising sources for continuous gravitational waves (GWs) detected by ground-based GW detectors. Continuous GWs can be radiated from magnetars due to magnetic-induced deformation or fluid oscillations, compatible with magnetic dipole (MD) radiation for spin-down energy. In this paper, we investigate the diverse light curves of magnetar-driven SNe in the scenario that the spin-down is dominated by GW radiation and/or MD radiation. By simulating the light curves of SNe and employing the Markov chain Monte Carlo method, we constrain the parameters of the magnetars and SN explosions and show that the signature of GW radiation may be indicated by the bolometric luminosity curves of SNe Ic-BL 2007ru and 2009bb. We find that the ellipticity of magnetars in the order of $10^{-3}$ can be induced by the magnetic field of $\sim 10^{16} \mbox{ G}$. If such continuous GWs associated with SNe can be detected in the future by the Advanced LIGO and Virgo detectors, this would be a smoking gun for a magnetar engine powering SNe.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

The FAST Galactic Plane Pulsar Snapshot Survey -- V. PSR J1901+0658 in a double neutron star system

Double neutron star (DNS) systems offer excellent opportunities to test gravity theories. We report the timing results of PSR J1901+0658, the first pulsar discovered in the FAST Galactic Plane Pulsar Snapshot (GPPS) Survey. Based on timing observations by FAST over 5 yr, we obtain the phase-coherent timing solutions and derive the precise measurements of its position, spin parameters, orbital parameters, and dispersion measure. It has a period of 75.7 ms, a period derivative of 2.169(6)$\times 10^{-19}$ s s$^{-1}$, and a characteristic age of 5.5 Gyr. This pulsar is in an orbit with a period of 14.45 d and an eccentricity of 0.366. One post-Keplerian parameter, periastron advance, has been well-measured as being 0.00531(9) deg yr$^{-1}$, from which the total mass of this system is derived to be 2.79(7) M$_{\odot}$. The pulsar has the mass upper limit of 1.68 M$_{\odot}$, so the lower limit for the companion mass is 1.11 M$_{\odot}$. Because PSR J1901+0658 is a partially recycled pulsar in an eccentric binary orbit with such a large companion mass, it should be in a DNS system according to the evolution history of the binary system.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

A catalog of 1.58 million clusters of galaxies identified from the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys

Based on the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys released data and available spectroscopic redshifts, we identify 1.58 million clusters of galaxies by searching for the overdensity of stellar mass distribution of galaxies within redshift slices around pre-selected massive galaxies, among which 877,806 clusters are found for the first time. The identified clusters have an equivalent mass of M_{500}> 0.47*10^{14}~Msolar with an uncertainty of 0.2 dex. The redshift distribution of clusters extends to z~1.5, and 338,841 clusters have spectroscopic redshifts. Our cluster sample includes most of the rich optical clusters in previous catalogs, more than 95% massive Sunyaev-Zeldovich clusters and 90% ROSAT and eROSITA X-ray clusters. From the light distributions of member galaxies, we derive the dynamical state parameters for 28,038 rich clusters and find no significant evolution of the dynamical state with redshift. We find that the stellar mass of the brightest cluster galaxies grows by a factor of 2 since z=1.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

Dwarf pulses of 10 pulsars detected by FAST

How pulsars radiate is a long-standing problem. Detailed polarization measurements of individual pulses shed light on currently unknown emission processes. Recently, based on supersensitive observations, dwarf pulses have been recognized as weak narrow pulses often appearing during the nulling state. In this study, we report the detection of dwarf pulses from ten pulsars, PSRs B0525+21, B1237+25, J1538+2345, J1824$-$0127, J1851$-$0053, B1901+10, J1939+10, B1944+17, B2000+40 and J2112+4058, based on observations conducted with the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope. Dwarf pulses of five pulsars are clearly discernible in the two-dimensional distribution of pulse intensity and pulse width. For the other five pulsars, PSRs J1538+2345, J1824$-$0127, J1939+10, B2000+40, and J2112+4058, only a few dwarf pulses are detected from pulse stacks. The dwarf pulses can emerge in both cone and core emission components for PSR B1237+25, and the polarization angles of these dwarf pulses are mostly in the orthogonal polarization mode of normal pulses for PSR B1944+17. In general, pulsars with detected dwarf pulses tend to be located within the "death valley" region of the distribution of pulsar periods and period derivatives.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

Individual subpulses of PSR B1916+14 and their polarization properties

Individual subpulses of pulsars are regarded as the basic emission components, providing invaluable information to understand the radio emission process in the pulsar magnetosphere. Nevertheless, subpulses are overlapped with each other along the rotation phase for most pulsars, making it difficult to study the statistical properties of subpulses. Among the pulsars observed by the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope, PSR B1916+14 has a large number of isolated well-resolved subpulses in the high time resolution observations, having a typical width of 0.15 ms and a high linear polarization. We find that the number distribution of subpulses contributes dominantly to the mean profile. According to the emission geometry, these emission units come from a region roughly 155 km above the polar cap in the pulsar magnetosphere, and the length scale of basic emission units is approximately 120 m. The deviations of polarization position angles for these single subpulses from the standard S-shaped curve are closely related to their fractional linear and circular polarization, and the large deviations tend to come from drifting subpulses.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2023

G213.0$-$0.6, a true supernova remnant or just an HII region?

G213.0$-$0.6 is a faint extended source situated in the anti-center region of the Galactic plane. It has been classified as a shell-type supernova remnant (SNR) based on its shell-like morphology, steep radio continuum spectrum, and high ratio of [S II]/H$α$. With new optical emission line data of H$α$, [S II], and [N II] recently observed by the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope, the ratios of [S II]/H$α$ and [N II]/H$α$ are re-assessed. The lower values than those previously reported put G213.0$-$0.6 around the borderline of SNR-HII region classification. We decompose the steep-spectrum synchrotron and the flat-spectrum thermal free-free emission in the area of G213.0$-$0.6 with multi-frequency radio continuum data. G213.0$-$0.6 is found to show a flat spectrum, in conflict with the properties of a shell-type SNR. Such a result is further confirmed by TT-plots made between the 863-MHz, 1.4-GHz, and 4.8-GHz data. Combining the evidence extracted in both optical and radio continuum, we argue that G213.0$-$0.6 is possibly not an SNR, but an HII region instead. The $V_{LSR}$ pertaining to the H$α$ filaments places G213.0$-$0.6 approximately 1.9 kpc away in the Perseus Arm.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2023

PSR J1953+1844 probably being the descendant of an Ultra-compact X-ray binary

PSR J1953+1844 (i.e., M71E) is a millisecond pulsar (MSP)in a 53 minute binary orbit discovered by the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope. The mass function from pulsar timing is $2.3\times10^{-7}$ $M_\odot$. The possible redback origin of this system has been discussed by Pan et al. We discuss here an alternative evolution track for this binary system, namely that PSR J1953+1844 is a descendant of an ultra-compact X-ray binary (UCXB), which has a hydrogen-poor donor accreting onto a neutron star (NS) with an orbital period of $\leq1$ hr. We noticed that some of UCXB systems hold an accreting millisecond X-ray pulsars (AMXPs) and a donor with a mass of about 0.01 M$_\odot$. M71E has a very similar orbit to those of AMXPs, indicating that it might be evolved from a UCXB similar to PSR J1653--0158. The companion star of M71E should be significantly bloated and it most probably has a carbon and oxygen composition, otherwise a low inclination angle of the orbit is required for a helium companion. The discovery of this M71E binary system may shed light on when and how an NS in a UCXBs turns into a radio pulsar.

astro-ph.HE↗