Parkes observations for project P1153 semester 2022APRS_06

The ThunderKAT and MeerTRAP teams at the MeerKAT radio telescope have discovered a slow, pulsating radio source in the image and time domain data. We estimate a best fit period P = 75.88 s and period derivative Pdot = 2.9 x 10^-13 s/s. The source is seen to lie in the P-Pdot pulsar parameter phase space "death valley" where radio emission from neutron stars is not expected according to models in the literature. Single pulse analysis of MeerKAT data in the L- and UHF-bands reveals remarkable and unusual spectro-temporal properties, quite unlike anything seen in known radio neutron stars, with some pulses showing quasi-periodic sub-pulse components. We request 9 hours in the April 2022 semester to utilise the excellent ultra wide-band sensitivity of Parkes to study the pulse shape evolution and spectro-tempo-polarimetric properties of the source, probe the broadband nature and evolution of the sub-pulse components, and investigate any radius-to-frequency mapping, allowing us to characterise and/or distinguish it from other types of known neutron stars.

MeerKAT射电望远镜的ThunderKAT与MeerTRAP团队在图像和时域数据中发现了一个缓慢脉动的射电源。我们估计其最佳拟合周期P=75.88秒，周期导数Pdot=2.9×10^-13秒/秒。该源位于脉冲星P-Pdot参数相空间的“死亡谷”（death valley）区域——根据文献中的模型，此区域的中子星不应产生射电辐射。对MeerKAT望远镜L波段和UHF波段数据的单脉冲分析显示出显著且异常的频谱-时间特性（spectro-temporal properties），与已知射电中子星的任何观测特征都截然不同；部分脉冲呈现准周期子脉冲成分（quasi-periodic sub-pulse components）。我们申请在2022年4月学期使用9小时观测时间，利用帕克斯望远镜（Parkes）卓越的超宽带灵敏度研究该源的脉冲形状演化及频谱-时间-偏振特性（spectro-tempo-polarimetric properties），探究子脉冲成分的宽带性质与演化规律，调查是否存在半径-频率映射（radius-to-frequency mapping），从而对其进行特征描述，并/或将其与其他已知类型的中子星区分开来。