Parkes observations for project P1185 semester 2023APRS_09

Ultra-long period neutron stars (ULPNSs) are an emerging class of objects that have sparked interest and curiosity in the fast transient community. Along with standard magnetars, they have been theorised to be potential progenitors of the enigmatic fast radio bursts (FRBs). The MeerTRAP project at the MeerKAT radio telescope is uncovering several magnetar and ultra-long period neutron star candidates, an example of which is PSR J0901-4046 with a period of 76s. Continued long-term monitoring of PSR J0901-4046 has shown it to be potentially transitioning into radio quiescence. The proposed observations will enable us to continue to monitor and characterise the decline in flux density. We have also discovered two new candidates MTP0027 and MTP0068 with periods of ~10 seconds and ~5 seconds respectively. Both sources exhibit magnetar-like pulse morphology and have only been detected in one epoch with MeerKAT. We propose to continue monitoring these sources to re-detect pulses and study their spectro-temporal-polarimetric properties.

超长周期中子星（Ultra-long period neutron stars, ULPNSs）是一类新兴天体，已引发快速暂现源领域的广泛关注与研究兴趣。与标准磁星一道，这类天体被理论推测为神秘的快速射电暴（Fast Radio Bursts, FRBs）的潜在前身天体。搭载于MeerKAT射电望远镜的MeerTRAP项目正发现多颗磁星与超长周期中子星候选体，其中一例为自转周期76秒的脉冲星PSR J0901-4046。对PSR J0901-4046的长期持续监测显示，该天体正处于向射电宁静态过渡的潜在阶段。本次拟开展的观测将助力我们持续监测并表征其流量密度的衰减过程。此外，团队还发现了两颗新的候选体MTP0027与MTP0068，其自转周期分别约为10秒与5秒。两天体均表现出类磁星的脉冲形态，且仅在MeerKAT的单次观测历元中被探测到。我们提议继续对这两颗源开展监测，以重新探测到脉冲信号，并研究其光谱-时域-偏振特性。