Parkes observations for project P1176 semester 2024APRS_03

Pulsars and their winds are among nature's most powerful particle accelerators, producing particles with energies up to a few PeVatrons. In addition to high-energy radiation from the magnetosphere, the rotational energy of a neutron star is carried away in the form of magnetized ultra-relativistic pulsar winds. Investigation of pulsar wind nebula (PWN) offers an excellent chance to determine the interaction details of relativistic flows with their surroundings that may never be possible in other classes of source. Our recent analyses of ASKAP observations of Galactic Plane uncovered previously known X-ray PWN CXOU J163802.6-471358 (nicknamed Potoroo). Recently, we have successfully detected a pulsar candidate associated with Potoroo with Parkes telescope. It is detected at 3 GHz with a dispersion measure of DM = 1553 pc cm-3 and a rotation period of 65.74 ms. Here we propose to continue timing observations for this young pulsar with the Parkes Ultra-Wideband Low (UWL) receiver. Through pulsar timing, we will be able to obtain precise measurements of the pulsar position and the spin-down of the pulsar which enables us to independently estimate the age of the system. This program will also facilitate our LBA observations to measure proper motions of the pulsar through pulse-phased resolved VLBI experiments.

脉冲星及其星风是自然界中最强的粒子加速器之一，可产生能量高达数拍电子伏特加速器（PeVatron）级别的粒子。除来自磁层的高能辐射外，中子星的转动能会以磁化超相对论性脉冲星风的形式被带走。对脉冲星风云（Pulsar Wind Nebula, PWN）的研究，为我们解析相对论性流与周围环境的相互作用细节提供了绝佳契机——这类细节在其他类型的天体源中或许永远无法被观测到。我们近期对银道面的澳大利亚平方千米阵列探路者（ASKAP）观测数据进行分析时，发现了此前已知的X射线脉冲星风云CXOU J163802.6-471358（昵称为“波多罗”（Potoroo））。近期，我们利用帕克斯（Parkes）望远镜成功探测到了与波多罗相关的脉冲星候选体：该候选体在3 GHz频段被探测到，其色散量（DM）为1553 pc·cm⁻³，自转周期为65.74毫秒。在此，我们提出利用帕克斯超宽带低（UWL）接收机，继续对这颗年轻脉冲星开展计时观测。通过脉冲星计时观测，我们将能够精确测定该脉冲星的位置及其自转减速速率，进而独立估算该天体系统的年龄。本项目还将助力我们开展甚长基线阵列（LBA）观测，通过脉冲相位分辨甚长基线干涉测量（VLBI）实验来测定该脉冲星的自行。