Parkes observations for project P1129 semester 2021OCTS_06

PSR J0837-2454 is a young, high-Galactic-latitude pulsar, whose distance derived from dispersion measure (DM) implies a height of $>$1~kpc above the Galactic plane. The young age (28kyr) and position can be explained if (i) the pulsar was born at this high Galactic $z$-height from a runaway or walkaway O/B star; or (ii) the DM-derived distance to this pulsar is incorrect and the pulsar is closer to the plane of the Galaxy. Obtaining a coherent timing solution for the pulsar over the coming year will allow gated VLBA observations which, along with an independent estimate of the proper motion, will also provide us with a distance to the pulsar through a measurement of the parallax, if the pulsar is closer than the DM implies. These measurements are crucial to determining whether or not this pulsar represents the remnants of a rare Milky Way halo O/B star. In addition, studying the scattering and scintillation will allow us to test whether there is any additional source of DM along the line of sight to the pulsar that might inflate its DM-derived distance, and hence its height above the Galactic plane. Finally, measuring the polarisation properties of the pulsar will allow us to study its beam geometry, as well as further investigate the ISM and the Galactic magnetic field in this direction.