Wideband Monitoring Observations of PSR J1803–3002A in the Globular Cluster NGC 6522

Abstract

Abstract We report the first wideband monitoring observations of PSR J1803−3002A, a relatively bright millisecond pulsar (MSP) in the globular cluster NGC 6522 with a spin period of 7.1 ms and no known binary companion. These observations were performed using the Parkes 64 m radio telescope with the Ultra-Wideband Low receiver system, which covers 704–4032 MHz. We confirm that PSR J1803−3002A is an isolated MSP located near the cluster center and probe the emission properties of the pulsar over the wide observed band. The mean pulse profile consists of three components, with the outer components becoming more prominent at higher frequencies, and a mean spectral index for the pulsed emission of −1.66 ± 0.07 over the observed band. The fractional linear and circular polarization increase with increasing frequency, which is unusual for pulsars. We determine a Faraday rotation measure of −107 ± 6 rad m−2 for the pulsar. PSR J1803−3002A is a distant pulsar in the Galactic plane, but our observations show no evidence of pulse broadening due to interstellar scattering. These results demonstrate the power of ultra-wideband receivers and signal processing systems.