Spatial modulation search applied to the search and confirmation of highly scintillated pulsars at FAST with a pulsar discovered in M3

Abstract

We present a pulsar candidate identification and confirmation procedure based on a position-switch mode during the pulsar search observations. This method enables the simultaneous search and confirmation of a pulsar in a single observation, by utilizing the different spatial features of a pulsar signal and radio frequency interference (RFI). Based on this method, we performed test pulsar search observations in globular clusters M3, M15 and M92. We discovered and confirmed a new pulsar, M3F, and detected the known pulsars M3B, M15A to G (except C) and M92A.