arXiv subjects

S. M. Ransom

Publications and source records attributed to S. M. Ransom.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources

arXiv2012

PSR J1838-0537: Discovery of a young, energetic gamma-ray pulsar

We report the discovery of PSR J1838-0537, a gamma-ray pulsar found through a blind search of data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). The pulsar has a spin frequency of 6.9 Hz and a frequency derivative of -2.2e-11 Hz/s, implying a young characteristic age of 4970 years and a large spin-down power of 5.9e36 erg/s. Follow-up observations with radio telescopes detected no pulsations, thus PSR J1838-0537 appears radio-quiet as viewed from Earth. In September 2009 the pulsar suffered the largest glitch so far seen in any gamma-ray-only pulsar, causing a relative increase in spin frequency of about 5.5e-6. After the glitch, during a putative recovery period, the timing analysis is complicated by the sparsity of the LAT photon data, the weakness of the pulsations, and the reduction in average exposure from a coincidental, contemporaneous change in the LAT's sky-survey observing pattern. The pulsar's sky position is coincident with the spatially extended TeV source HESS J1841-055 detected by the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.). The inferred energetics suggest that HESS J1841-055 contains a pulsar wind nebula powered by the pulsar.

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arXiv2012

Discovery of the Optical/Ultraviolet/Gamma-ray Counterpart to the Eclipsing Millisecond Pulsar J1816+4510

The energetic, eclipsing millisecond pulsar J1816+4510 was recently discovered in a low-frequency radio survey with the Green Bank Telescope. With an orbital period of 8.7 hr and minimum companion mass of 0.16 Msun it appears to belong to an increasingly important class of pulsars that are ablating their low-mass companions. We report the discovery of the gamma-ray counterpart to this pulsar, and present a likely optical/ultraviolet counterpart as well. Using the radio ephemeris we detect pulsations in the unclassified gamma-ray source 2FGL J1816.5+4511, implying an efficiency of ~25% in converting the pulsar's spin-down luminosity into gamma-rays and adding PSR J1816+4510 to the large number of millisecond pulsars detected by Fermi. The likely optical/UV counterpart was identified through position coincidence (<0.1") and unusual colors. Assuming that it is the companion, with R=18.27+/-0.03 mag and effective temperature >15,000 K it would be among the brightest and hottest of low-mass pulsar companions, and appears qualitatively different from other eclipsing pulsar systems. In particular, current data suggest that it is a factor of two larger than most white dwarfs of its mass, but a factor of four smaller than its Roche lobe. We discuss possible reasons for its high temperature and odd size, and suggest that it recently underwent a violent episode of mass loss. Regardless of origin, its brightness and the relative unimportance of irradiation make it an ideal target for a mass, and hence a neutron star mass, determination.

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arXiv2012

Radio Searches of Fermi LAT Sources and Blind Search Pulsars: The Fermi Pulsar Search Consortium

We present a summary of the Fermi Pulsar Search Consortium (PSC), an international collaboration of radio astronomers and members of the Large Area Telescope (LAT) collaboration, whose goal is to organize radio follow-up observations of Fermi pulsars and pulsar candidates among the LAT gamma-ray source population. The PSC includes pulsar observers with expertise using the world's largest radio telescopes that together cover the full sky. We have performed very deep observations of all 35 pulsars discovered in blind frequency searches of the LAT data, resulting in the discovery of radio pulsations from four of them. We have also searched over 300 LAT gamma-ray sources that do not have strong associations with known gamma-ray emitting source classes and have pulsar-like spectra and variability characteristics. These searches have led to the discovery of a total of 43 new radio millisecond pulsars (MSPs) and four normal pulsars. These discoveries greatly increase the known population of MSPs in the Galactic disk, more than double the known population of so-called `black widow' pulsars, and contain many promising candidates for inclusion in pulsar timing arrays.

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arXiv2012

Discovery of the millisecond pulsar PSR J2043+1711 in a Fermi source with the Nancay Radio Telescope

We report the discovery of the millisecond pulsar PSR J2043+1711 in a search of a Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) source with no known associations, with the Nancay Radio Telescope. The new pulsar, confirmed with the Green Bank Telescope, has a spin period of 2.38 ms, is relatively nearby (d <~ 2 kpc), and is in a 1.48 day orbit around a low mass companion, probably a He-type white dwarf. Pulsed gamma-ray emission was detected in the data recorded by the Fermi LAT. The gamma-ray light curve and spectral properties are typical of other gamma-ray millisecond pulsars seen with Fermi. X-ray observations of the pulsar with Suzaku and the Swift/XRT yielded no detection. At 1.4 GHz we observe strong flux density variations because of interstellar diffractive scintillation, however a sharp peak can be observed at this frequency during bright scintillation states. At 327 MHz the pulsar is detected with a much higher signal-to-noise ratio and its flux density is far more steady. However, at that frequency the Arecibo instrumentation cannot yet fully resolve the pulse profile. Despite that, our pulse time-of-arrival measurements have a post-fit residual rms of 2 \mus. This and the expected stability of this system has made PSR J2043+1711 one of the first new Fermi-selected millisecond pulsars to be added to pulsar gravitational wave timing arrays. It has also allowed a significant measurement of relativistic delays in the times of arrival of the pulses due to the curvature of space-time near the companion, but not yet with enough precision to derive useful masses for the pulsar and the companion. A mass for the pulsar between 1.7 and 2.0 solar masses can be derived if a standard millisecond pulsar formation model is assumed. In this article we also present a comprehensive summary of pulsar searches in Fermi LAT sources with the Nancay Radio Telescope to date.

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arXiv2012

Correlation of Chandra photons with the radio giant pulses from the Crab pulsar

No apparent correlation was found between giant pulses (GPs) and X-ray photons from the Crab pulsar during 5.4 hours of simultaneous observations with the Green Bank Telescope at 1.5 GHz and Chandra X-Ray Observatory primarily in the energy range 1.5-4.5 keV. During the Crab pulsar periods with GPs the X-ray flux in radio emission phase windows does not change more than by +-10% for main pulse (MP) GPs and +-30% for interpulse (IP) GPs. During giant pulses themselves, the X-ray flux does not change more than by two times for MP GPs and 5 times for IP GPs. All limits quoted are compatible with 2-sigma fluctuations of the X-ray flux around the sets of false GPs with random arrival times. The results speak in favor of changes in plasma coherence as the origin of GPs. However, the results do not rule out variations in the rate of particle creation if the particles that emit coherent radio emission are mostly at the lowest Landau level.

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arXiv2012

Five New Millisecond Pulsars From a Radio Survey of 14 Unidentified Fermi-LAT Gamma-ray Sources

We have discovered five millisecond pulsars (MSPs) in a survey of 14 unidentified Fermi-LAT sources in the southern sky using the Parkes radio telescope. PSRs J0101-6422, J1514-4946, and J1902-5105 reside in binaries, while PSRs J1658-5324 and J1747-4036 are isolated. Using an ephemeris derived from timing observations of PSR J0101-6422 (P =2.57 ms, DM=12 pc cm-3), we have detected γ-ray pulsations and measured its proper motion. Its γ-ray spectrum (a power law of Γ = 0.9 with a cutoff at 1.6 GeV) and efficiency are typical of other MSPs, but its radio and γ-ray light curves challenge simple geometric models of emission. The high success rate of this survey-enabled by selecting γ-ray sources based on their detailed spectral characteristics-and other similarly successful searches indicate that a substantial fraction of the local population of MSPs may soon be known.

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arXiv2012

The Double Pulsar Eclipses I: Phenomenology and Multi-frequency Analysis

The double pulsar PSR J0737-3039A/B displays short, 30 s eclipses that arise around conjunction when the radio waves emitted by pulsar A are absorbed as they propagate through the magnetosphere of its companion pulsar B. These eclipses offer a unique opportunity to probe directly the magnetospheric structure and the plasma properties of pulsar B. We have performed a comprehensive analysis of the eclipse phenomenology using multi-frequency radio observations obtained with the Green Bank Telescope. We have characterized the periodic flux modulations previously discovered at 820 MHz by McLaughlin et al., and investigated the radio frequency dependence of the duration and depth of the eclipses. Based on their weak radio frequency evolution, we conclude that the plasma in pulsar B's magnetosphere requires a large multiplicity factor (~ 10^5). We also found that, as expected, flux modulations are present at all radio frequencies in which eclipses can be detected. Their complex behavior is consistent with the confinement of the absorbing plasma in the dipolar magnetic field of pulsar B as suggested by Lyutikov & Thompson and such a geometric connection explains that the observed periodicity is harmonically related to pulsar B's spin frequency. We observe that the eclipses require a sharp transition region beyond which the plasma density drops off abruptly. Such a region defines a plasmasphere which would be well inside the magnetospheric boundary of an undisturbed pulsar. It is also two times smaller than the expected standoff radius calculated using the balance of the wind pressure from pulsar A and the nominally estimated magnetic pressure of pulsar B.

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arXiv2011

PSR J1841-0500: a radio pulsar that mostly is not there

In a search for radio pulsations from the magnetar 1E 1841-045, we have discovered the unrelated pulsar J1841-0500, with rotation period P=0.9 s and characteristic age 0.4 Myr. One year after discovery with the Parkes telescope at 3 GHz, radio emission ceased from this bright pulsar. After 580 days, emission resumed as before. The P-dot during both on states is 250% of the average in the off state. PSR J1841-0500 is a second example of an extremely intermittent pulsar, although with a much longer off period and larger ratio of spin-down rates than PSR B1931+24. The new pulsar is hugely scattered by the ISM, with a fitted timescale referenced to 1 GHz of tau_1=2 s. Based on polarimetric observations at 5 GHz with the Green Bank Telescope, the intrinsic pulse profile has not obviously changed between the two on states observed so far, although relatively small variations cannot be excluded. The magnitude of its rotation measure is the largest known, RM=-3000 rad/m^2, and with a dispersion measure DM=532 pc/cc implies a large electron-weighted average magnetic field strength along the line of sight, 7 microG.

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arXiv2011

PSR J2030+3641: radio discovery and gamma-ray study of a middle-aged pulsar in the now identified Fermi-LAT source 1FGL J2030.0+3641

In a radio search with the Green Bank Telescope of three unidentified low Galactic latitude Fermi-LAT sources, we have discovered the middle-aged pulsar J2030+3641, associated with 1FGL J2030.0+3641 (2FGL J2030.0+3640). Following the detection of gamma-ray pulsations using a radio ephemeris, we have obtained a phase-coherent timing solution based on gamma-ray and radio pulse arrival times that spans the entire Fermi mission. With a rotation period of 0.2 s, spin-down luminosity of 3e34 erg/s, and characteristic age of 0.5 Myr, PSR J2030+3641 is a middle-aged neutron star with spin parameters similar to those of the exceedingly gamma-ray-bright and radio-undetected Geminga. Its gamma-ray flux is 1% that of Geminga, primarily because of its much larger distance, as suggested by the large integrated column density of free electrons, DM=246 pc/cc. We fit the gamma-ray light curve, along with limited radio polarimetric constraints, to four geometrical models of magnetospheric emission, and while none of the fits have high significance some are encouraging and suggest that further refinements of these models may be worthwhile. We argue that not many more non-millisecond radio pulsars may be detected along the Galactic plane that are responsible for LAT sources, but that modified methods to search for gamma-ray pulsations should be productive -- PSR J2030+3641 would have been found blindly in gamma rays if only >0.8 GeV photons had been considered, owing to its relatively flat spectrum and location in a region of high soft background.

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arXiv2011

Pulsed Gamma Rays from the Original Millisecond and Black Widow Pulsars: a case for Caustic Radio Emission?

We report the detection of pulsed gamma-ray emission from the fast millisecond pulsars (MSPs) B1937+21 (also known as J1939+2134) and B1957+20 (J1959+2048) using 18 months of survey data recorded by the \emph{Fermi} Large Area Telescope (LAT) and timing solutions based on radio observations conducted at the Westerbork and Nançay radio telescopes. In addition, we analyzed archival \emph{RXTE} and \emph{XMM-Newton} X-ray data for the two MSPs, confirming the X-ray emission properties of PSR B1937+21 and finding evidence ($\sim 4σ$) for pulsed emission from PSR B1957+20 for the first time. In both cases the gamma-ray emission profile is characterized by two peaks separated by half a rotation and are in close alignment with components observed in radio and X-rays. These two pulsars join PSRs J0034-0534 and J2214+3000 to form an emerging class of gamma-ray MSPs with phase-aligned peaks in different energy bands. The modeling of the radio and gamma-ray emission profiles suggests co-located emission regions in the outer magnetosphere.

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arXiv2011

Discovery of Nine Gamma-Ray Pulsars in Fermi-LAT Data Using a New Blind Search Method

We report the discovery of nine previously unknown gamma-ray pulsars in a blind search of data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). The pulsars were found with a novel hierarchical search method originally developed for detecting continuous gravitational waves from rapidly rotating neutron stars. Designed to find isolated pulsars spinning at up to kHz frequencies, the new method is computationally efficient, and incorporates several advances, including a metric-based gridding of the search parameter space (frequency, frequency derivative and sky location) and the use of photon probability weights. The nine pulsars have spin frequencies between 3 and 12 Hz, and characteristic ages ranging from 17 kyr to 3 Myr. Two of them, PSRs J1803-2149 and J2111+4606, are young and energetic Galactic-plane pulsars (spin-down power above 6e35 erg/s and ages below 100 kyr). The seven remaining pulsars, PSRs J0106+4855, J0622+3749, J1620-4927, J1746-3239, J2028+3332, J2030+4415, J2139+4716, are older and less energetic; two of them are located at higher Galactic latitudes (|b| > 10 deg). PSR J0106+4855 has the largest characteristic age (3 Myr) and the smallest surface magnetic field (2e11 G) of all LAT blind-search pulsars. PSR J2139+4716 has the lowest spin-down power (3e33 erg/s) among all non-recycled gamma-ray pulsars ever found. Despite extensive multi-frequency observations, only PSR J0106+4855 has detectable pulsations in the radio band. The other eight pulsars belong to the increasing population of radio-quiet gamma-ray pulsars.

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arXiv2011

High-Precision Timing of 5 Millisecond Pulsars: Space Velocities, Binary Evolution and Equivalence Principles

We present high-precision timing of five millisecond pulsars (MSPs) carried out for more than seven years; four pulsars are in binary systems and one is isolated. We are able to measure the pulsars' proper motions and derive an estimate for their space velocities. The measured two-dimensional velocities are in the range 70-210 km/s, consistent with those measured for other MSPs. We also use all the available proper motion information for isolated and binary MSPs to update the known velocity distribution for these populations. As found by earlier works, we find that the velocity distribution of binary and isolated MSPs are indistinguishable with the current data. Four of the pulsars in our observing program are highly recycled with low-mass white dwarf companions and we are able to derive accurate binary parameters for these systems. For three of these binary systems we are able to place initial constraints on the pulsar masses with best-fit values in the range 1.0-1.6 M_sun. The implications of the results presented here to our understanding of binary pulsar evolution are discussed. The updated parameters for the binary systems studied here, together with recently discovered similar systems, allowed us to update previous limits on the the violation of the strong equivalence principle through the parameter |Delta| to 4.6x10^-3 (95% confidence) and the violation of Lorentz-invariance/momentum-conservation through the parameter |hat{alpha}_3| to 5.5x10^-20 (95% confidence).

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arXiv2011

Discovery of an Energetic Pulsar Associated with SNR G76.9+1.0

We report the discovery of PSR J2022+3842, a 24 ms radio and X-ray pulsar in the supernova remnant G76.9+1.0, in observations with the Chandra X-ray telescope, the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Radio Telescope, and the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE). The pulsar's spin-down rate implies a rotation-powered luminosity Edot = 1.2 x 10^{38} erg/s, a surface dipole magnetic field strength B_s = 1.0 x 10^{12} G, and a characteristic age of 8.9 kyr. PSR J2022+3842 is thus the second-most energetic Galactic pulsar known, after the Crab, as well as the most rapidly-rotating young, radio-bright pulsar known. The radio pulsations are highly dispersed and broadened by interstellar scattering, and we find that a large (delta-f / f ~= 1.9 x 10^{-6}) spin glitch must have occurred between our discovery and confirmation observations. The X-ray pulses are narrow (0.06 cycles FWHM) and visible up to 20 keV, consistent with magnetospheric emission from a rotation-powered pulsar. The Chandra X-ray image identifies the pulsar with a hard, unresolved source at the midpoint of the double-lobed radio morphology of SNR G76.9+1.0 and embedded within faint, compact X-ray nebulosity. The spatial relationship of the X-ray and radio emissions is remarkably similar to extended structure seen around the Vela pulsar. The combined Chandra and RXTE pulsar spectrum is well-fitted by an absorbed power-law model with column density N_H = (1.7\pm0.3) x 10^{22} cm^{-2} and photon index Gamma = 1.0\pm0.2; it implies that the Chandra point-source flux is virtually 100% pulsed. For a distance of 10 kpc, the X-ray luminosity of PSR J2022+3842 is L_X(2-10 keV) = 7.0 x 10^{33} erg s^{-1}. Despite being extraordinarily energetic, PSR J2022+3842 lacks a bright X-ray wind nebula and has an unusually low conversion efficiency of spin-down power to X-ray luminosity, L_X/Edot = 5.9 x 10^{-5}.

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arXiv2011

Arecibo PALFA Survey and Einstein@Home: Binary Pulsar Discovery by Volunteer Computing

We report the discovery of the 20.7 ms binary pulsar J1952+2630, made using the distributed computing project Einstein@Home in Pulsar ALFA survey observations with the Arecibo telescope. Follow-up observations with the Arecibo telescope confirm the binary nature of the system. We obtain a circular orbital solution with an orbital period of 9.4 hr, a projected orbital radius of 2.8 lt-s, and a mass function of f = 0.15 solar masses by analysis of spin period measurements. No evidence of orbital eccentricity is apparent; we set a 2-sigma upper limit e < 1.7e-3. The orbital parameters suggest a massive white dwarf companion with a minimum mass of 0.95 solar masses, assuming a pulsar mass of 1.4 solar masses. Most likely, this pulsar belongs to the rare class of intermediate mass binary pulsars. Future timing observations will aim to determine the parameters of this system further, measure relativistic effects, and elucidate the nature of the companion star.

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arXiv2011

Discovery of two millisecond pulsars in Fermi sources with the Nancay Radio Telescope

We report the discovery of two millisecond pulsars in a search for radio pulsations at the positions of \emph{Fermi Large Area Telescope} sources with no previously known counterparts, using the Nançay radio telescope. The two millisecond pulsars, PSRs J2017+0603 and J2302+4442, have rotational periods of 2.896 and 5.192 ms and are both in binary systems with low-eccentricity orbits and orbital periods of 2.2 and 125.9 days respectively, suggesting long recycling processes. Gamma-ray pulsations were subsequently detected for both objects, indicating that they power the associated \emph{Fermi} sources in which they were found. The gamma-ray light curves and spectral properties are similar to those of previously-detected gamma-ray millisecond pulsars. Detailed modeling of the observed radio and gamma-ray light curves shows that the gamma-ray emission seems to originate at high altitudes in their magnetospheres. Additionally, X-ray observations revealed the presence of an X-ray source at the position of PSR J2302+4442, consistent with thermal emission from a neutron star. These discoveries along with the numerous detections of radio-loud millisecond pulsars in gamma rays suggest that many \emph{Fermi} sources with no known counterpart could be unknown millisecond pulsars.

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arXiv2011

Precise Gamma-Ray Timing and Radio Observations of 17 Fermi Gamma-Ray Pulsars

We present precise phase-connected pulse timing solutions for 16 gamma-ray-selected pulsars recently discovered using the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope plus one very faint radio pulsar (PSR J1124-5916) that is more effectively timed with the LAT. We describe the analysis techniques including a maximum likelihood method for determining pulse times of arrival from unbinned photon data. A major result of this work is improved position determinations, which are crucial for multi-wavelength follow up. For most of the pulsars, we overlay the timing localizations on X-ray images from Swift and describe the status of X-ray counterpart associations. We report glitches measured in PSRs J0007+7303, J1124-5916, and J1813-1246. We analyze a new 20 ks Chandra ACIS observation of PSR J0633+0632 that reveals an arcminute-scale X-ray nebula extending to the south of the pulsar. We were also able to precisely localize the X-ray point source counterpart to the pulsar and find a spectrum that can be described by an absorbed blackbody or neutron star atmosphere with a hard powerlaw component. Another Chandra ACIS image of PSR J1732-3131 reveals a faint X-ray point source at a location consistent with the timing position of the pulsar. Finally, we present a compilation of new and archival searches for radio pulsations from each of the gamma-ray-selected pulsars as well as a new Parkes radio observation of PSR J1124-5916 to establish the gamma-ray to radio phase offset.

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arXiv2011

Discovery of millisecond pulsars in radio searches of southern Fermi LAT sources

Using the Parkes radio telescope we have carried out deep observations of eleven unassociated gamma-ray sources. Periodicity searches of these data have discovered two millisecond pulsars, PSR J1103-5403 (1FGL J1103.9-5355) and PSR J2241-5236 (1FGL J2241.9-5236), and a long period pulsar, PSR J1604-44 (1FGL J1604.7-4443). In addition we searched for but did not detect any radio pulsations from six gammaray pulsars discovered by the Fermi satellite to a level of - 0.04 mJy (for pulsars with a 10% duty cycle). Timing of the millisecond pulsar PSR J1103-5403 has shown that its position is 9' from the centroid of the gamma-ray source. Since these observations were carried out, independent evidence has shown that 1FGL J1103.9-5355 is associated with the flat spectrum radio source PKS 1101-536. It appears certain that the pulsar is not associated with the gamma-ray source, despite the seemingly low probability of a chance detection of a radio millisecond pulsar. We consider that PSR J1604-44 is a chance discovery of a weak, long period pulsar and is unlikely to be associated with 1FGL J1604.7-4443. PSR J2241-5236 has a spin period of 2.2 ms and orbits a very low mass companion with a 3.5 hour orbital period. The relatively high flux density and low dispersion measure of PSR J2241-5236 makes it an excellent candidate for high precision timing experiments. The gamma-rays of 1FGL J2241.9-5236 have a spectrum that is well modelled by a power law with exponential cutoff, and phasebinning with the radio ephemeris results in a multi-peaked gamma-ray pulse profile. Observations with Chandra have identified a coincident X-ray source within 0.1" of the position of the pulsar obtained by radio timing

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arXiv2011

Pulsar Science with the Green Bank 43m Telescope

The 43m telescope at the NRAO site in Green Bank, WV has recently been outfitted with a clone of the Green Bank Ultimate Pulsar Processing Instrument (GUPPI \cite{Ransom:2009}) backend, making it very useful for a number of pulsar related studies in frequency ranges 800-1600 MHz and 220-440 MHz. Some of the recent science being done with it include: monitoring of the Crab pulsar, a blind search for transient sources, pulsar searches of targets of opportunity, and an all-sky mapping project. For the Crab monitoring project, regular observations are searched for giant pulses (GPs), which are then correlated with $γ$-ray photons from the \emph{Fermi} spacecraft. Data from the all-sky mapping project are first run through a pipeline that does a blind transient search, looking for single pulses over a DM range of 0-500 pc~cm$^{-3}$. These projects are made possible by MIT Lincoln Labs.

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