Parkes observations for project P877 semester 2014OCTS

While pulsars are well known to emit over a wide range of frequencies, the total bandwidth over which the emission is correlated and the pulse-to-pulse variability of this bandwidth are poorly understood. Given this uncertainty, it is unsurprising that the effects of this variability on precision pulsar timing are unknown. We therefore propose to answer three questions about the broadband nature of pulsar emission: \r\n1) Over what bandwidths are individual pulses correlated?\r\n2) Does this bandwidth vary across the pulsar population? \r\nand 3) How does this bandwidth affect pulsar timing?\r\nTo answer these questions, we propose to study 19 bright pulsars that span the neutron star population, exhibit a diverse range of pulsar phenomenology. We request 32 hours of Parkes observation time to conduct simultaneous multi-frequency single-pulse observations for 16 pulsars. We will complement these with archival observations of three pulsars. These measurements will be used to construct better empirical models for pulsar emission, test theoretical predictions, and assess the effects of broadband variability on pulsar timing measurements.