Parkes observations for project P1054 semester 2021OCTS_14

With this proposal we ask time to continue our timing follow-up campaign of pulsars discovered with the MeerKAT telescope. Nine sources have been discovered in targeted observations of Fermi unidentified point sources, three in the Small Magellanic Cloud, 34 in Globular Clusters and six in a survey of the Galactic plane. Excluding GC sources (too dim to be followed up in the framework of this proposal), at least 12 new discoveries are recycled pulsars, one possibly with a neutron star companion, and two more have spin periods around 70 ms, making them potential mildly recycled 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.

本申请旨在获批观测时长，以延续我们对MeerKAT望远镜（MeerKAT）发现的脉冲星开展的计时随访项目。本次研究共发现多颗脉冲星源：其中通过费米（Fermi）未证认点源靶向观测发现9颗，小麦哲伦星系（Small Magellanic Cloud）中发现3颗，球状星团（Globular Clusters，简称GC）中发现34颗，银道面巡天中发现6颗。剔除球状星团源（因亮度不足，无法在本申请的观测框架内开展随访）后，至少12颗新发现源为再循环脉冲星（recycled pulsars），其中1颗可能拥有中子星伴星，另有2颗的自转周期约为70毫秒，属于潜在的轻度再循环脉冲星或年轻脉冲星。计时观测对于充分挖掘脉冲星发现的全部科学潜力具有核心作用，可实现自转参数、天体测量参数与轨道参数的高精度测定，进而为我们深入理解极端环境下的物理机制以及整体中子星族群的特性提供强有力的研究手段。帕克斯（Parkes）望远镜搭载的UWL接收机（UWL receiver）是一台高灵敏度、多用途的观测设备，能够帮助我们成功对TRAPUM项目发现的亮端新脉冲星源开展计时观测。此外，UWL接收机还具备独特技术优势，可用于对所谓‘蜘蛛’脉冲星（spider pulsars）的食现象开展精细化研究——这类源约占本项目计划随访源总数的三分之一。