Abstract
Abstract It is difficult to discover pulsars via their gamma-ray emission because current instruments typically detect fewer than one photon per million rotations. This creates a significant computing challenge for isolated pulsars, where the typical parameter search space spans wide ranges in four dimensions. It is even more demanding when the pulsar is in a binary system, where the orbital motion introduces several additional unknown parameters. Building on earlier work by Pletsch & Clark, we present optimal methods for such searches. These can also incorporate external constraints on the parameter space to be searched, for example, from optical observations of a presumed binary companion. The solution has two parts. The first is the construction of optimal search grids in parameter space via a parameter space metric, for initial semicoherent searches and subsequent fully coherent follow-ups. The second is a method to demodulate and detect the periodic pulsations. These methods have different sensitivity properties than traditional radio searches for binary pulsars and might unveil new populations of pulsars.
Highlights
The Large Area Telescope (LAT; Atwood et al 2009) on the Fermi satellite has helped to increase the known Galactic population of gamma-ray pulsars to more than 250 pulsars5
We evaluate these mismatches to lowest order, obtaining a distance metric on the parameter space
The mismatch and its metric approximation agree well for mismatch m 0.4. This is a typical value for a search: in Appendix B, we show that maximum sensitivity for a given computing resource is obtained for an average mismatch m = 0.383
Summary
The Large Area Telescope (LAT; Atwood et al 2009) on the Fermi satellite has helped to increase the known Galactic population of gamma-ray pulsars to more than 250 pulsars (for a review see, e.g., Caraveo 2014). Informed searches are the focus of this paper Such searches have discovered more than 50 young pulsars (YPs; e.g., Abdo et al 2009a; Saz Parkinson et al 2010; Pletsch et al 2012a; Clark et al 2017) and three millisecond pulsars (MSPs; Pletsch et al 2012b; Clark et al 2018). Many of these pulsars could not have been found via radio or X-ray emissions, which were not detected in extensive follow-up searches.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
