Detection of polarized quasi-periodic microstructure emission in millisecond pulsars

Microstructure emission, involving short time scale, often quasi-periodic, intensity fluctuations in subpulse emission, is well known in normal period pulsars. In this letter, we present the first detections of quasi-periodic microstructure emission from millisecond pulsars (MSPs), from Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) observations of two MSPs at 325 and 610 MHz. Similar to the characteristics of microstructure observed in normal period pulsars, we find that these features are often highly polarized, and exhibit quasi-periodic behavior on top of broader subpulse emission, with periods of the order of a few $\mu$s. By measuring their widths and periodicities from single pulse intensity profiles and their autocorrelation functions, we extend the microstructure timescale - rotation period relationship by more than an order of magnitude down to rotation periods $\sim$ 5 ms, and find it to be consistent with the relationship derived earlier for normal pulsars. The similarity of behavior is remarkable, given the significantly different physical properties of MSPs and normal period pulsars, and rules out several previous speculations about the possible different characteristics of microstructure in MSP radio emission. We discuss the possible reasons for the non-detection of these features in previous high time resolution MSP studies along with the physical implications of our results, both in terms of a geometric beam sweeping model and temporal modulation model for micropulse production.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter

Pulsar Scintillation and the Local Bubble

We present here the results from an extensive scintillation study of twenty pulsars in the dispersion measure (DM) range 3 - 35 pc cm^-3 caried out using the Ooty Radio Telescope (ORT) at 327 MHz, to investigate the distribution of ionized material in the local interstellar medium. Observations were made during the period January 1993 to August 1995, in which the dynamic scintillation spectra of these pulsars were regularly monitored over 10 - 90 epochs spanning 100 days. Reliable and accurate estimates of strengths of scattering have been deduced from the scintillation parameters averaged out for their long-term fluctuations arising from refractive scintillation (RISS) effects. Our analysis reveals several anomalies in the scattering strength, which suggest tht the distribution of scattering material in the Solar neighborhood is not uniform. We have modelled these anomalous scattering effects in terms of inhomogeneities in the distribution of electron dnsity fluctuations in the local interstellar medium (LISM). Our model suggests the presence of a low density bubble surrounded by a shell of much higher density fluctuations. We are able to put constraints on geometrical and scattering properties of such a structure, and find it to be morphologically similar to the Local Bubble known from other studies.Comment: 35 pages, 12 figure

Long-Term Scintillation Studies of Pulsars: III. Testing Theoretical Models of Refractive Scintillation

Refractive interstellar scintillation (RISS) is thought to be the cause behind a variety of phenomena seen at radio wavelengths in pulsars and compact radio sources. Though there is substantial observational data to support several consequences of it, the quantitative predictions from theories have not been thoroughly tested. In this paper, data from our long-term scintillation study of 18 pulsars are used to test the predictions. The fluctuations of decorrelation bandwidth ($\nu_d$), scintillation time scale ($\tau_d$) and flux density (F) are examined for their cross-correlations and compared with the predictions. The theory predicts a strong correlation between $\nu_d$ and $\tau_d$, and strong anti-correlations between $\nu_d$ and F, and $\tau_d$ and F. For 5 pulsars, we see a reasonable agreement. There is considerable difficulty in reconciling the results for the rest of the pulsars. Our analysis shows the underlying noise sources can sometimes reduce the correlation, but cannot cause an absence of correlation. It is also unlikely that the poor flux correlations arise from a hitherto unrecognized intrinsic flux variations. For PSR B0834+06, which shows anomalous behaviour of persistent drift slopes, positive correlation is found between $\tau_d$ and the drift-corrected $\nu_d$. Many pulsars show an anti-correlation between $\nu_d$ and the drift slope, and this is in accordance with the simple models of RISS. The detections of correlated variations of observables and a reasonable agreement between the predicted and measured correlations for some pulsars confirm RISS as the primary cause of the observed fluctuations. However, the complexity seen with the detailed results suggests the necessity of more comprehensive theoretical treatments for describing refractive fluctuations and their correlations.Comment: 27 pages, 6 Figures, 6 Tables. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

GMRT Discovery of A Millisecond Pulsar in a Very Eccentric Binary System

We report the discovery of the binary millisecond pulsar J0514-4002A, which is the first known pulsar in the globular cluster NGC 1851 and the first pulsar discovered using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT). The pulsar has a rotational period of 4.99 ms, an orbital period of 18.8 days, and the most eccentric pulsar orbit yet measured (e = 0.89). The companion has a minimum mass of 0.9 M_sun and its nature is presently unclear. After accreting matter from a low-mass companion star which spun it up to a (few) millisecond spin period, the pulsar eventually exchanged the low-mass star for its more massive present companion. This is exactly the same process that could form a system containing a millisecond pulsar and a black hole; the discovery of NGC 1851A demonstrates that such systems might exist in the Universe, provided that stellar mass black holes exist in globular clusters.Comment: 12 pages (referee format), 3 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal Letter

Implementing and Characterizing Real-time Broadband RFI Excision for the GMRT Wideband Backend

The Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) is being upgraded to increase the receiver sensitivity. This makes the receiver more susceptible to man-made Radio Frequency Interference (RFI). To improve the receiver performance in presence of RFI, real-time RFI excision (filtering) is incorporated in the GMRT wideband backend (GWB). The RFI filtering system is implemented on FPGA and CPU-GPU platforms to detect and remove broadband and narrowband RFI. The RFI is detected using a threshold-based technique where the threshold is computed using Median Absolute Deviation (MAD) estimator. The filtering is carried out by replacing the RFI samples by either noise samples or constant value or threshold. This paper describes the status of the real-time broadband RFI excision system in the wideband receiver chain of the upgraded GMRT (uGMRT). The test methodology for carrying out various tests to demonstrate the performance of broadband RFI excision at the system level and on radio astronomical imaging experiments are also described.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure

The Eccentric Binary Millisecond Pulsar in NGC 1851

PSR J0514-4002A is a 5-ms pulsar is located in the globular cluster NGC 1851; it belongs to a highly eccentric (e = 0.888) binary system. It is one of the earliest known examples of a numerous and fast-growing class of eccentric binary MSPs recently discovered in globular clusters. Using the GBT, we have obtained a phase-coherent timing solution for the pulsar, which includes a measurement of the rate of advance of periastron: 0.01289(4) degrees per year, which if due completely to general relativity, implies a total system mass of 2.453(14) solar masses. We also derive m_p 0.96 solar masses. The companion is likely to be a massive white dwarf star.Comment: 3 pages, including 2 figures. To appear in the proceedings of "40 Years of Pulsars: Millisecond Pulsars, Magnetars, and More", August 12-17, 2007, McGill University, Montreal, Canad