Parkes observations for project P1054 semester 2022APRS_18

With this proposal we ask time to continue our timing follow-up campaign of pulsars discovered with the MeerKAT telescope. Fourteen sources have been discovered in targeted observations of Fermi unidentified point sources, three in the Small Magellanic Cloud, 37 in Globular Clusters and 34 in a survey of the Galactic plane. A large fraction of the new discoveries are recycled pulsars (including at least one double neutron star system and several 'spider' binaries), or young pulsars. Timing observations have an essential role in exploiting the full potential of any pulsar discovery, allowing the precise measurement of rotational, astrometric and orbital parameters which, in turn, give us powerful tools to improve our understanding of the physics in extreme environments as well as of the population of neutron stars as a whole. The UWL receiver of the Parkes telescope is a sensitive, versatile instrument that is allowing us to successfully time these new sources, in the bright-end of TRAPUM discoveries. The UWL has also the unique advantage of allowing detailed studies of the eclipses of the so-called 'spider' pulsars, which make up about 1/3rd of the sources we aim at following-up with this project.

本申请旨在申请观测时长，以延续我们针对MeerKAT望远镜发现的脉冲星实施的计时随访项目。其中，通过对费米（Fermi）未证认点源的靶向观测发现14颗源，在小麦哲伦星系（Small Magellanic Cloud）中发现3颗，在球状星团（Globular Clusters）中发现37颗，在银道面巡天中发现34颗。本次新发现的脉冲星中，相当比例为再循环脉冲星（recycled pulsars），包括至少一个双中子星系统与数颗“蜘蛛”双星（spider binaries），另有部分为年轻脉冲星。计时观测对于充分挖掘每一颗新发现脉冲星的科研潜力至关重要：通过计时观测可精确测量其自转、天体测量与轨道参数，进而为我们深入理解极端环境下的物理规律，乃至整体中子星的种群分布提供强有力的研究工具。帕克斯望远镜（Parkes telescope）搭载的UWL接收机（UWL receiver）是一台高灵敏度、多功能的观测设备，可助力我们成功完成这批新发现脉冲星的计时观测——这批源属于TRAPUM巡天的亮源样本。此外，UWL接收机还具备独特优势，可对所谓“蜘蛛”脉冲星的食现象开展细致研究；此类源约占本项目拟开展随访的源总数的三分之一。