Parkes observations for project P1032 semester 2020OCTS_02

This project aims to perform rapid measurements of relativistic parameters of southern binary pulsar systems enabling measurement of their component masses, using data from the Parkes Ultra-Wideband Low (UWL) receiver and the MeerKAT telescope. We will use the UWL data to obtain significant orbital coverage on these pulsars and obtain crucial constraints on orbital and temporal DM variations that will help in constraining the nature of the companion. We will then use MeerKAT data at crucial orbital phases to improve our chances of measuring relativistic parameters, and hence the component masses. Increase in the number of measured NS masses has profound implications for NS internal structure and for stellar and binary evolution physics.

本项目旨在依托帕克斯（Parkes）超宽带低（Ultra-Wideband Low, UWL）接收机与MeerKAT望远镜的观测数据，对南天双星脉冲星系统的相对论性参数开展快速测量，以精准测定其成员星质量。我们将借助UWL数据获取这些脉冲星的完整轨道观测覆盖，并对轨道与时变色散量（Dispersion Measure, DM）的变化给出关键约束，进而限定伴星的物理性质。后续我们将利用关键轨道相位下的MeerKAT观测数据，提升相对论性参数乃至成员星质量的测量成功率。已测得质量的中子星（Neutron Star, NS）样本数量的增加，对于中子星内部结构研究以及恒星与双星演化物理均具有深远意义。