Parkes observations for project P1007 semester 2019APRS_06

Recently, extreme plasma lensing of pulsar emission has been observed in two eclipsing binaries, PSR B1957+20 and PSR B1744-24A. These lensing events are an extremely sensitive probe of pulsar emission, resolving physical scales of ~10 km at the pulsar, and can be used to measure the magnetization of the intrabinary material, and constrain outflow velocities and mass-loss rates of the binaries. We propose to observe the 5 brightest eclipsing pulsars (B1718-19, J1723-2837, B1744-24A, B1957+20, J2051-0827), to search for the effects of plasma lensing, and to make use of the new Parkes Ultra Wide Band Low Frequency (UWL) receiver, which will allow us to resolve lensing events in frequency and time, which is crucial for constraining physical parameters. This study will help determine how ubiquitous the effects of plasma lensing are in eclipsing binaries, put improved physical scales on the locations of pulsar emission, and help shed light on the nature of eclipses and evolutionary pathways of these systems.

近期，科研人员在两颗食双星PSR B1957+20与PSR B1744-24A中观测到了脉冲星辐射的极端等离子体透镜效应。这类透镜事件是探测脉冲星辐射的极高灵敏度手段，可解析脉冲星处约10公里的物理尺度，还能用于测量双星系统内介质的磁化特性，并约束双星的喷流速度与质量损失率。本研究拟对5颗最亮的食脉冲星（B1718-19、J1723-2837、B1744-24A、B1957+20、J2051-0827）开展观测，以搜寻等离子体透镜效应的信号，并将利用新型帕克斯超宽频低频（UWL）接收机——该设备可在频域与时域解析透镜事件，这对约束物理参数至关重要。本研究将有助于明确等离子体透镜效应对食双星的普遍性，优化脉冲星辐射位置的物理尺度标定，并助力阐明食双星的食相本质与演化路径。