arXiv subjects

R. N. Manchester

Publications and source records attributed to R. N. Manchester.

At least 217 records · Page 12Linked to original sources

arXiv2002

Heartbeat of the Mouse: a young radio pulsar associated with the axisymmetric nebula G359.23-0.82

We report the discovery of PSR J1747-2958, a radio pulsar with period P = 98 ms and dispersion measure DM = 101 pc/cc, in a deep observation with the Parkes telescope of the axially-symmetric "Mouse" radio nebula (G359.23-0.82). Timing measurements of the newly discovered pulsar reveal a characteristic age Pdt/2dP = 25 kyr and spin-down luminosity dE/dt = 2.5e36 erg/s. The pulsar (timing) position is consistent with that of the Mouse's "head". The distance derived from the DM, ~2 kpc, is consistent with the Mouse's distance limit from HI absorption, < 5.5 kpc. Also, the X-ray energetics of the Mouse are compatible with being powered by the pulsar. Therefore we argue that PSR J1747-2958, moving at supersonic speed through the local interstellar medium, powers this unusual non-thermal nebula. The pulsar is a weak radio source, with period-averaged flux density at 1374 MHz of 0.25 mJy and luminosity ~1 mJy kpc^2.

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arXiv2002

The 2000 Periastron Passage of PSR B1259-63

We report here on a sequence of 28 observations of the binary pulsar system PSR B1259-63/SS2883 at four radio frequencies made with the Australia Telescope Compact Array around the time of the 2000 periastron passage. Observations made on 2000 Sep 1 show that the pulsar's apparent rotation measure (RM) reached a maximum of $-14800 \pm 1800$ rad m$^{-2}$, some 700 times the value measured away from periastron, and is the largest astrophysical RM measured. This value, combined with the dispersion measure implies a magnetic field in the Be star's wind of 6 mG. We find that the light curve of the unpulsed emission is similar to that obtained during the 1997 periastron but that differences in detail imply that the emission disc of the Be star is thicker and/or of higher density. The behaviour of the light curve at late times is best modelled by the adiabatic expansion of a synchrotron bubble formed in the pulsar/disc interaction. The expansion rate of the bubble $\sim 12$ km s$^{-1}$ is surprisingly low but the derived magnetic field of 1.6 G close to that expected.

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arXiv2002

A Very Large Glitch in PSR J1806-2125

PSR J1806-2125 is a pulsar discovered in the Parkes multibeam pulsar survey with a rotational period of 0.4s and a characteristic age of 65kyr. Between MJDs 51462 and 51894 this pulsar underwent an increase in rotational frequency of $Δν/ν\approx 16 \times 10^{-6}$. The magnitude of this glitch is approximately 2.5 times greater than any previously observed in any pulsar and 16 times greater than the mean glitch size. This letter gives the parameters of the glitch and compares its properties to previously observed events. The existence of such large and rare glitches offers new hope for attempts to observe thermal X-ray emission from the internal heat released following a glitch, and suggests that pulsars which previously have not been observed to glitch may do so on long timescales.

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arXiv2002

Timing of Millisecond Pulsars in NGC 6752: Evidence for a High Mass-to-Light Ratio in the Cluster Core

Using pulse timing observations we have obtained precise parameters, including positions with about 20 mas accuracy, of five millisecond pulsars in NGC 6752. Three of them, located relatively close to the cluster center, have line-of-sight accelerations larger than the maximum value predicted by the central mass density derived from optical observation, providing dynamical evidence for a central mass-to-light ratio >~ 10, much higher than for any other globular cluster. It is likely that the other two millisecond pulsars have been ejected out of the core to their present locations at 1.4 and 3.3 half-mass radii, respectively, suggesting unusual non-thermal dynamics in the cluster core.

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arXiv2002

The Parkes Multibeam Pulsar Survey -- II. Discovery and Timing of 120 Pulsars

The Parkes multibeam pulsar survey is a sensitive survey of a strip of the Galactic plane with $|b|<5\degr$ and $260\degr < l < 50\degr$ at 1374 MHz. Here we report the discovery of 120 new pulsars and subsequent timing observations, primarily using the 76-m Lovell radio telescope at Jodrell Bank. The main features of the sample of 370 published pulsars discovered during the multibeam survey are described. Furthermore, we highlight two pulsars: PSR J1734$-$3333, a young pulsar with the second highest surface magnetic field strength among the known radio pulsars, $B_s = 5.4\times10^{13}$ G, and PSR J1830$-$1135, the second slowest radio pulsar known, with a 6-s period.

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arXiv2002

Counterclockwise magnetic fields in the Norma spiral arm

Pulsars provide unique probes of the large-scale interstellar magnetic field in the Galactic disk. Up to now, the limited Galactic distribution of the known pulsar population has restricted these investigations to within a few kiloparsec of the Sun. The Parkes multibeam pulsar survey has discovered many more-distant pulsars which enables us for the first time to explore the magnetic field in most of the nearby half of the Galactic disk. Here we report the detection of counterclockwise magnetic fields in the Norma spiral arm using pulsar rotation measures. The fields are coherent in direction over a linear scale of $\sim 5$ kpc along the arm and have a strength of $-4.4\pm0.9$ $μ$G. The magnetic field between the Carina-Sagittarius and Crux-Scutum arms is confirmed to be coherent from $l\sim45\degr$ to $l\sim305\degr$ over a length of $\sim 10$ kpc. These results strengthen arguments for a bisymmetric spiral model for the field configuration in the Galactic disk.

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arXiv2002

PSR J1124-5916: discovery of a young, energetic pulsar in the supernova remnant G292.0+1.8

We report the discovery with the Parkes radio telescope of a pulsar associated with the ~ 1700 yr-old oxygen-rich composite supernova remnant G292.0+1.8. PSR J1124-5916 has period 135 ms and period derivative 7.4e-13, implying characteristic age 2900 yr, spin-down luminosity 1.2e37 erg/s, and surface magnetic field strength 1.0e13 G. Association between the pulsar and the synchrotron nebula previously identified with Chandra within this supernova remnant is confirmed by the subsequent detection of X-ray pulsations by Hughes et al. The pulsar's flux density at 1400 MHz is very small, S ~ 0.08 mJy, but the radio luminosity of Sd^2 ~ 2 mJy kpc^2 is not especially so, although it is one order of magnitude smaller than that of the least luminous young pulsar previously known. This discovery suggests that very deep radio searches should be done for pulsations from pulsar wind nebulae in which the central pulsed source is yet to be detected and possibly other more exotic neutron stars.

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arXiv2001

X-ray Radiation from the Millisecond Pulsar J0437-4715

We report on spectral and timing observations of the nearest millisecond pulsar J0437-4715 with Chandra. The pulsar spectrum, detected up to 7 keV, cannot be described by a simple one-component model. We suggest that it consists of two components, a nonthermal power-law spectrum generated in the pulsar magnetosphere, with a photon index about 2, and a thermal spectrum emitted by heated polar caps, with a temperature decreasing outwards from 2 MK to 0.5 MK. The lack of spectral features in the thermal component suggests that the neutron star surface is covered by a hydrogen (or helium) atmosphere. The timing analysis shows one X-ray pulse per period, with a pulsed fraction of about 40% and the peak at the same pulse phase as the radio peak. No synchrotron pulsar-wind nebula is seen in the X-rays.

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arXiv2001

X-ray Spectrum and Pulsations of the Vela Pulsar

We report the results of the spectral and timing analysis of observations of the Vela pulsar with the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The spectrum shows no statistically significant spectral lines in the observed 0.25--8.0 keV band. It consists of two distinct continuum components. The softer component can be modeled as either a magnetic hydrogen atmosphere spectrum with kT = 59 +- 3 eV, R = 15.5 +- 1.5 km, or a standard blackbody with kT = 129 +- 4 eV, R = 2.1 +- 0.2 km (the radii are for a distance of 250 pc). The harder component, modeled as a power-law spectrum, gives photon indices depending on the model adopted for the soft component: gamma = 1.5 +- 0.3 for the magnetic atmosphere soft component, and gamma = 2.7 +- 0.4 for the blackbody soft component. Timing analysis shows three peaks in the pulse profile, separated by about 0.3 in phase. Energy-resolved timing provides evidence for pulse profile variation with energy. The higher energy (E > 1.8 keV) profile shows significantly higher pulsed fraction.

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arXiv2001

Young Pulsars from the Parkes Multibeam Pulsar Survey and their Associations

The Parkes multibeam pulsar survey is covering a 10deg-wide strip of the southern Galactic plane from l=260deg to l=50deg. It utilizes a 13-beam receiver operating in the 20-cm band on the Parkes 64-m radio telescope and is much more sensitive than any previous large-scale survey. Most of the 608 pulsars discovered so far are relatively distant and many are young, with 37 having a characteristic age of less than 10^5 years. At least one of these is associated with a supernova remnant and four other probable associations are suggested. Several multibeam pulsars have high values of the parameter Edot/d^2 and are within the position error contours of unidentified EGRET gamma-ray sources. These possible associations will be tested with the advent of new gamma-ray telescopes.

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arXiv2001

A Sensitive Targeted Search Campaign at Parkes to Find Young Radio Pulsars at 20 cm

We describe a sensitive targeted search campaign at Parkes to find faint young radio pulsars using the center beam of the 20-cm multibeam receiver. The high frequency of the receiver mitigates scattering effects which can dominate profiles of distant pulsars at low frequencies and prevent detection. The targets included several composite supernova remnants (SNRs), two fast X-ray pulsars, long-period anomalous X-ray pulsars, and a soft gamma repeater. The sensitivity limits in this search are significantly better than those previously reported for these objects. We have discovered three new radio pulsars, two of which are not associated with the target objects. The third pulsar, PSR J1713-3949, is possibly associated with SNR G347.3-0.5; the estimated ages and distances of the two objects are consistent, but a more significant positional coincidence must be established with the central X-ray source in the SNR through pulsar timing to confirm or refute the association.

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arXiv2001

SNR G292.2-0.5: A Radio Supernova Remnant Associated with the Young Pulsar J1119-6127

We report on Australia Telescope Compact Array observations in the direction of the young high-magnetic-field radio pulsar PSR J1119-6127. In the resulting images we identify a non-thermal radio shell of diameter 15 arcminutes, which we classify as a previously uncataloged young supernova remnant (SNR), G292.2-0.5. This SNR is positionally coincident with PSR J1119-6127, and we conclude that the two objects are physically associated. No radio emission is detected from any pulsar wind nebula (PWN) associated with the pulsar; our observed upper limits are consistent with the expectation that high-magnetic-field pulsars produce radio nebulae which fade rapidly. This system suggests a possible explanation for the lack of associated radio pulsars and/or PWNe in many SNRs.

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arXiv2001

Pulsar Timing at Urumqi Astronomical Observatory: Observing System and Results

A pulsar timing system has been operating in the 18-cm band at the Urumqi Astronomical Observatory 25-m telescope since mid-1999. Frequency resolution allowing dedispersion of the pulsar signals is provided by a 2X128X2.5 MHz filterbank/digitiser system. Observations of 74 pulsars over more than 12 months have resulted in updated pulsar periods and period derivatives, as well as improved positions. Comparison with previous measurements showed that the changes in period and period derivative tend to have the same sign and to be correlated in amplitude. A model based on unseen glitches gives a good explanation of the observed changes, suggesting that long-term fluctuations in period and period derivatives are dominated by glitches. In 2000 July, we detected a glitch of relative amplitude Delta_nu/nu~24X1e-9 in the Crab pulsar. The post-glitch decay appears similar to other large Crab glitches.

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arXiv2001

Evolution of the Radio Remnant of SN 1987A: 1990 -- 2001

The development of the radio remnant of SN 1987A has been followed using the Australia Telescope Compact Array since its first detection in 1990 August. The remnant has been observed at four frequencies, 1.4, 2.4, 4.8 and 8.6 GHz, at intervals of 4 - 6 weeks since the first detection. These data are combined with the 843 MHz data set of Ball et al. (2001) obtained at Molonglo Observatory to study the spectral and temporal variations of the emission. These observations show that the remnant continues to increase in brightness, with a larger rate of increase at recent times. They also show that the radio spectrum is becoming flatter, with the spectral index changing from -0.97 to -0.88 over the 11 years. In addition, at roughly yearly intervals since 1992, the remnant has been imaged at 9 GHz using super-resolution techniques to obtain an effective synthesised beamwidth of about 0".5. The imaging observations confirm the shell-morphology of the radio remnant and show that it continues to expand at ~3000 km/s. The bright regions of radio emission seen on the limb of the shell do not appear to be related to the optical hotspots which have subsequently appeared in surrounding circumstellar material.

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arXiv2001

A test of general relativity from the three-dimensional orbital geometry of a binary pulsar

Binary pulsars provide an excellent system for testing general relativity because of their intrinsic rotational stability and the precision with which radio observations can be used to determine their orbital dynamics. Measurements of the rate of orbital decay of two pulsars have been shown to be consistent with the emission of gravitational waves as predicted by general relativity, providing the most convincing evidence for the self-consistency of the theory to date. However, independent verification of the orbital geometry in these systems was not possible. Such verification may be obtained by determining the orientation of a binary pulsar system using only classical geometric constraints, permitting an independent prediction of general relativistic effects. Here we report high-precision timing of the nearby binary millisecond pulsar PSR J0437-4715, which establish the three-dimensional structure of its orbit. We see the expected retardation of the pulse signal arising from the curvature of space-time in the vicinity of the companion object (the `Shapiro delay'), and we determine the mass of the pulsar and its white dwarf companion. Such mass determinations contribute to our understanding of the origin and evolution of neutron stars.

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arXiv2001

An eclipsing millisecond pulsar with a possible main-sequence companion in NGC 6397

We present the results of one year of pulse timing observations of PSR J1740-5340, an eclipsing millisecond pulsar located in the globular cluster NGC 6397. We have obtained detailed orbital parameters and a precise position for the pulsar. The radio pulsar signal shows frequent interactions with the atmosphere of the companion, and suffers significant and strongly variable delays and intensity variations over a wide range of orbital phases. These characteristics and the binary parameters indicate that the companion may be a bloated main-sequence star or the remnant (still filling its Roche lobe) of the star that spun up the pulsar. In both cases, this would be the first binary millisecond pulsar system with such a companion.

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arXiv2001

Detection of ionized gas in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae

We report the detection of ionized intracluster gas in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae. Pulsars in this cluster with a negative period derivative, which must lie in the distant half of the cluster, have significantly higher measured integrated electron column densities than the pulsars with a positive period derivative. We derive the plasma density within the central few pc of the cluster using two different methods which yield consistent values. Our best estimate of n_e = (0.067+-0.015)/cm^3 is about 100 times the free electron density of the ISM in the vicinity of 47 Tucanae, and the ionized gas is probably the dominant component of the intracluster medium.

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arXiv2001

PSR J1016-5857: a young radio pulsar with possible supernova remnant, X-ray, and gamma-ray associations

We report the discovery of a young and energetic pulsar in the Parkes multibeam survey of the Galactic plane. PSR J1016-5857 has a rotation period of 107 ms and period derivative of 8e-14, implying a characteristic age of 21 kyr and spin-down luminosity of 2.6e36 erg/s. The pulsar is located just outside, and possibly interacting with, the shell supernova remnant G284.3-1.8. Archival X-ray data show a source near the pulsar position which is consistent with emission from a pulsar wind nebula. The pulsar is also located inside the error box of the unidentified EGRET source 3EG J1013-5915, for which it represents a plausible counterpart.

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