Study of 72 Pulsars Discovered in the PALFA Survey

Timing Analysis, Glitch Activity, Emission Variability, and a Pulsar in an Eccentric Binary

authored by: E. Parent, H. Sewalls, P. C.C. Freire, T. Matheny, A. G. Lyne, B. B.P. Perera, F. Cardoso, M. A. McLaughlin, B. Allen, A. Brazier, F. Camilo, S. Chatterjee, J. M. Cordes, F. Crawford, J. S. Deneva, F. A. Dong, R. D. Ferdman, E. Fonseca, J. W.T. Hessels, V. M. Kaspi, B. Knispel, J. Van Leeuwen, R. S. Lynch, B. M. Meyers, J. W. McKee, M. B. Mickaliger, C. Patel, S. M. Ransom, A. Rochon, P. Scholz, I. H. Stairs, B. W. Stappers, C. M. Tan, W. W. Zhu
Abstract: We present new discoveries and results from long-term timing of 72 pulsars discovered in the Pulsar Arecibo L-band Feed Array (PALFA) survey, including precise determination of astrometric and spin parameters, and flux density and scatter broadening measurements at 1.4 GHz. Notable discoveries include two young pulsars (characteristic ages ∼30 kyr) with no apparent supernova remnant associations, three mode-changing, 12 nulling and two intermittent pulsars. We detected eight glitches in five pulsars. Among them is PSR J1939+2609, an apparently old pulsar (characteristic age ∼1 Gy), and PSR J1954+2529, which likely belongs to a newly emerging class of binary pulsars. The latter is the only pulsar among the 72 that is clearly not isolated: a nonrecycled neutron star with a 931 ms spin period in an eccentric (e = 0.114) wide (P b = 82.7 days) orbit with a companion of undetermined nature having a minimum mass of ∼0.6 M o˙. Since operations at Arecibo ceased in 2020 August, we give a final tally of PALFA sky coverage, and compare its 207 pulsar discoveries to the known population. On average, they are 50% more distant than other Galactic plane radio pulsars; PALFA millisecond pulsars (MSPs) have twice the dispersion measure per unit spin period than the known population of MSP in the plane. The four intermittent pulsars discovered by PALFA more than double the population of such objects, which should help to improve our understanding of pulsar magnetosphere physics. The statistics for these, rotating radio transients, and nulling pulsars suggest that there are many more of these objects in the Galaxy than was previously thought.
Organisation(s): Institute of Gravitation Physics
External Organisation(s): McGill University
Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR)
West Virginia University
University of Manchester
Arecibo Observatory
Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)
University of Wisconsin Milwaukee
Cornell Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science
South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO)
Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster
George Mason University
University of British Columbia
University of East Anglia
Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)
University of Amsterdam
Green Bank Observatory
University of Toronto
National Radio Astronomy Observatory Socorro
CAS - National Astronomical Observatories
Type: Article
Journal: Astrophysical Journal
Volume: 924
No. of pages: 32
ISSN: 0004-637X
Publication date: 10.01.2022
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Space and Planetary Science
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2108.02320 (Access: Open)
https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac375d (Access: Open)

BibTeX

@article{690cf4d0645b426cabaedc93be2ffbc3,
title = "Study of 72 Pulsars Discovered in the PALFA Survey: Timing Analysis, Glitch Activity, Emission Variability, and a Pulsar in an Eccentric Binary",
abstract = "We present new discoveries and results from long-term timing of 72 pulsars discovered in the Pulsar Arecibo L-band Feed Array (PALFA) survey, including precise determination of astrometric and spin parameters, and flux density and scatter broadening measurements at 1.4 GHz. Notable discoveries include two young pulsars (characteristic ages ∼30 kyr) with no apparent supernova remnant associations, three mode-changing, 12 nulling and two intermittent pulsars. We detected eight glitches in five pulsars. Among them is PSR J1939+2609, an apparently old pulsar (characteristic age ∼1 Gy), and PSR J1954+2529, which likely belongs to a newly emerging class of binary pulsars. The latter is the only pulsar among the 72 that is clearly not isolated: a nonrecycled neutron star with a 931 ms spin period in an eccentric (e = 0.114) wide (P b = 82.7 days) orbit with a companion of undetermined nature having a minimum mass of ∼0.6 M o˙. Since operations at Arecibo ceased in 2020 August, we give a final tally of PALFA sky coverage, and compare its 207 pulsar discoveries to the known population. On average, they are 50% more distant than other Galactic plane radio pulsars; PALFA millisecond pulsars (MSPs) have twice the dispersion measure per unit spin period than the known population of MSP in the plane. The four intermittent pulsars discovered by PALFA more than double the population of such objects, which should help to improve our understanding of pulsar magnetosphere physics. The statistics for these, rotating radio transients, and nulling pulsars suggest that there are many more of these objects in the Galaxy than was previously thought.",
keywords = "Binary pulsars, Pulsar timing method, Radio pulsars, Radio transient sources, Surveys",
author = "E. Parent and H. Sewalls and Freire, {P. C.C.} and T. Matheny and Lyne, {A. G.} and Perera, {B. B.P.} and F. Cardoso and McLaughlin, {M. A.} and B. Allen and A. Brazier and F. Camilo and S. Chatterjee and Cordes, {J. M.} and F. Crawford and Deneva, {J. S.} and Dong, {F. A.} and Ferdman, {R. D.} and E. Fonseca and Hessels, {J. W.T.} and Kaspi, {V. M.} and B. Knispel and {Van Leeuwen}, J. and Lynch, {R. S.} and Meyers, {B. M.} and McKee, {J. W.} and Mickaliger, {M. B.} and C. Patel and Ransom, {S. M.} and A. Rochon and P. Scholz and Stairs, {I. H.} and Stappers, {B. W.} and Tan, {C. M.} and Zhu, {W. W.}",
year = "2022",
month = jan,
day = "10",
doi = "10.48550/arXiv.2108.02320",
language = "English",
volume = "924",
journal = "Astrophysical Journal",
issn = "0004-637X",
publisher = "American Astronomical Society",
number = "2",
}