SINGLE-PULSE RADIO OBSERVATIONS OF THE GALACTIC CENTER MAGNETAR PSR J1745–2900

Journal Article · Fri Nov 20 04:00:00 EST 2015 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/814/1/5· OSTI ID:22521916

Yan, Zhen; Shen, Zhi-Qiang; Wu, Ya-Jun; Zhao, Rong-Bing; Fan, Qing-Yuan; Hong, Xiao-Yu; Jiang, Dong-Rong; Li, Bin; Liang, Shi-Guang; Ling, Quan-Bao; Liu, Qing-Hui; Qian, Zhi-Han; Zhang, Xiu-Zhong; Zhong, Wei-Ye; Ye, Shu-Hua ^[1]; Wu, Xin-Ji ^[2]; Manchester, R. N. ^[3]; Weltevrede, P. ^[4]; Yuan, Jian-Ping ^[5]; Lee, Ke-Jia ^[6]

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1. Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200030 (China)
2. Department of Astronomy, Peking University, Beijing 100871 (China)
3. CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, P.O. Box 76, Epping, NSW 1710 (Australia)
4. Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL (United Kingdom)
5. Key Laboratory of Radio Astronomy, Chinese Academy of Sciences (China)
6. Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University, Beijing 100871 (China)

In this paper, we report radio observations of the Galactic Center magnetar PSR J1745–2900 at six epochs between 2014 June and October. These observations were carried out using the new Shanghai Tian Ma Radio Telescope at a frequency of 8.6 GHz. Both the flux density and integrated profile of PSR J1745–2900 show dramatic changes from epoch to epoch, showing that the pulsar was in its “erratic” phase. On MJD 56836, the flux density of this magnetar was about 8.7 mJy, which was 10 times larger than that reported at the time of discovery, enabling a single-pulse analysis. The emission is dominated by narrow “spiky” pulses that follow a log-normal distribution in peak flux density. From 1913 pulses, we detected 53 pulses whose peak flux densities are 10 times greater than that of the integrated profile. They are concentrated in pulse phase at the peaks of the integrated profile. The pulse widths at the 50% level of these bright pulses were between 0.°2 and 0.°9, much narrower than that of the integrated profile (∼12°). The observed pulse widths may be limited by interstellar scattering. No clear correlation was found between the widths and peak flux density of these pulses and no evidence was found for subpulse drifting. Relatively strong spiky pulses are also detected in the other five epochs of observation, showing the same properties as those detected in MJD 56836. These strong spiky pulses cannot be classified as “giant” pulses but are more closely related to normal pulse emission.

• OSTI ID: 22521916
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 814; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
CORRELATIONS
FLUX DENSITY
GHZ RANGE
MAGNETIC FLUX
MAGNETIC STARS
MILKY WAY
NEUTRON STARS
PULSARS
RADIO TELESCOPES
SCATTERING