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Published February 2022 | Accepted Version + Published
Journal Article Open

Dual-frequency single-pulse study of PSR B0950+08

Abstract

PSR B0950+08 is a bright nonrecycled pulsar whose single-pulse fluence variability is reportedly large. Based on observations at two widely separated frequencies, 55 MHz (NenuFAR) and 1.4 GHz (Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope), we review the properties of these single pulses. We conclude that they are more similar to ordinary pulses of radio emission than to a special kind of short and bright giant pulses, observed from only a handful of pulsars. We argue that a temporal variation of the properties of the interstellar medium along the line of sight to this nearby pulsar, namely the fluctuating size of the decorrelation bandwidth of diffractive scintillation makes an important contribution to the observed single-pulse fluence variability. We further present interesting structures in the low-frequency single-pulse spectra that resemble the "sad trombones" seen in fast radio bursts (FRBs); although for PSR B0950+08 the upward frequency drift is also routinely present. We explain these spectral features with radius-to-frequency mapping, similar to the model developed by Wang et al. (2019, ApJ, 876, L15) for FRBs. Finally, we speculate that μs-scale fluence variability of the general pulsar population remains poorly known, and that its further study may bring important clues about the nature of FRBs.

Additional Information

© ESO 2022. Received: 17 September 2021 Accepted: 4 November 2021. A.B. thanks M. Mickaliger and S. Burke-Spolaor for help in retrieving the single-pulse energy distributions reported in their works, K. Nimmo for comments on the time-luminosity phase-space plot, and A. Rohatgi for creating web based tool to extract data from plots. This research was supported by the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013)/ERC Grant Agreement No. 617199 'ALERT', and by NWO, the Dutch Research Council, under Vici research programme 'ARGO' with project number 639.043.815 (PI:JvL). JPWV acknowledges support by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) through the Heisenberg programme (Project No. 433075039). GS acknowledges financial support provided under the European Union H2020 ERC Consolidator Grant "Binary Massive Black Hole Astrophysics" (B Massive, Grant Agreement: 818691). DV acknowledges support from the Netherlands eScience Center (NLeSC) under grant ASDI.15.406. EP acknowledges funding from an NWO Veni Fellowship. J.W.K. is a CITA Postdoctoral Fellow: This work was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), [funding reference #CITA 490888-16]. This paper is partially based on data obtained using the NenuFAR radio-telescope. The development of NenuFAR has been supported by personnel and funding from: Station de Radioastronomie de Nançay, CNRS-INSU, Observatoire de Paris-PSL, Université d'Orléans, Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers en Région Centre, Région Centre-Val de Loire, DIM-ACAV and DIM-ACAV+ of Région Ile-de-France, Agence Nationale de la Recherche. We acknowledge the use of the Nançay Data Center computing facility (CDN – Centre de Données de Nançay). The CDN is hosted by the Station de Radioastronomie de Nançay in partnership with Observatoire de Paris, Université d'Orléans, OSUC and the CNRS. The CDN is supported by the Région Centre-Val de Loire, département du Cher. The Nançay Radio Observatory is operated by the Paris Observatory, associated with the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). This work makes use of data from the Apertif system installed at the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope owned by ASTRON. ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, is an institute of NWO. Apertif instrumentation development for this research was supported by NWO (grant 614.061.613 'ARTS') and the Netherlands Research School for Astronomy ('NOVA4-ARTS', 'NOVA-NW3', and 'NOVA5-NW3-10.3.5.14'). We thank Apertif Builders E. A. K. Adams, B. Adebahr, W. A. van Cappellen, W. J. G. de Blok, J. P. R. de Reijer, B. S. Frank, J. E. Hargreaves, K. M. Hess, E. Kooistra, D. M. Lucero, Á. Mika, J. Morawietz, R. Morganti, V. A. Moss, M. J. Norden, T. A. Oosterloo, E. Orrú, A. A. Ponomareva, G. W. Schoonderbeek, A. Sclocco, R. van der Brink, J. M. van der Hulst, D. van der Schuur, G. N. J. van Diepen, M. A. W. Verheijen, and S. J. Wijnholds.

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Additional details

Created:
August 22, 2023
Modified:
October 23, 2023