Spin-down Parameters Research Articles

Banks of templates for directed and all-sky narrow-band searches of continuous gravitational waves from spinning neutron stars with several spindowns

We construct efficient banks of templates suitable for searches of continuous gravitational waves from isolated spinning neutron stars. We assume that the search algorithm is based on the time-domain maximum-likelihood -statistic and we consider narrow-band searches with several spindown parameters included. Our template banks are suitable for both all-sky and directed searches and they enable the usage of the fast Fourier transform in the computation of the -statistic as well as, in the case of all-sky searches, efficient resampling of data to barycentric time.

First Constraining Upper Limits on Gravitational-wave Emission from NS 1987A in SNR 1987A

We report on a search for continuous gravitational waves (GWs) from NS 1987A, the neutron star born in SN 1987A. The search covered a frequency band of 75–275 Hz, included a wide range of spin-down parameters for the first time, and coherently integrated 12.8 days of LIGO data below 125 Hz and 8.7 days of LIGO data above 125 Hz from the second Advanced LIGO–Virgo observing run. We found no astrophysical signal. We set upper limits on GW emission as tight as an intrinsic strain of 2 × 10−25 at 90% confidence. The large spin-down parameter space makes this search the first astrophysically consistent one for continuous GWs from NS 1987A. Our upper limits are the first consistent ones to beat an analog of the spin-down limit based on the age of the neutron star and hence are the first GW observations to put new constraints on NS 1987A.

First searches for gravitational waves from r -modes of the Crab pulsar

We present the first searches for gravitational waves from r-modes of the Crab pulsar, coherently and separately integrating data from three stretches of the first two observing runs of Advanced LIGO using the F-statistic. The second run was divided in two by a glitch of the pulsar roughly halfway through. The frequencies and derivatives searched were based on radio measurements of the pulsar's spin-down parameters as described in Caride et al., Phys. Rev. D 100, 064013 (2019). We did not find any evidence of gravitational waves. Our best 90% confidence upper limits on gravitational wave intrinsic strain were 1.5e-25 for the first run, 1.3e-25 for the first stretch of the second run, and 1.1e-25 for the second stretch of the second run. These are the first upper limits on gravitational waves from r-modes of a known pulsar to beat its spin-down limit, and they do so by more than an order of magnitude in amplitude or two orders of magnitude in luminosity.

The Timing Behavior of the Central Compact Object Pulsar 1E 1207.4−5209

Abstract We present 20 yr of timing observations for 1E 1207.4−5209, the central compact object in supernova remnant PKS 1209−51/52, to follow up on our detection of an unexpected timing glitch in its spin-down. Using new XMM-Newton and NICER observations of 1E 1207.4−5209, we now find that the phase ephemeris can be well modeled by either two small glitches, or extreme timing noise. The implied magnitudes of the frequency glitches are and , at epochs 2010.9 and 2014.4, respectively. The updated timing solutions also rule out our previous suggestion of a large glitch in the frequency derivative . No other canonical pulsar with such a small spin-down rate ( Hz s−1) or surface dipole magnetic field strength ( G) has been observed to glitch; the glitch activity parameter of 1E 1207.4−5209 is larger than that of more energetic pulsars. Alternative parameterizations that do not involve glitches can fit the data, but they have timing residuals or a second frequency derivative that are orders of magnitude larger than in pulsars with similar spin-down parameters. These timing properties of 1E 1207.4−5209 further motivate the leading theory of central compact objects, that an initial B-field of normal strength was buried in the neutron star crust by fallback of supernova ejecta, suppressing the surface dipole field. The slow reemergence of the buried field may be involved in triggering glitches or excess timing noise.

How to search for gravitational waves from r -modes of known pulsars

Searches for continuous gravitational waves from known pulsars so far have been targeted at or near the spin frequency or double the spin frequency of each pulsar, appropriate for mass quadrupole emission. But some neutron stars might radiate strongly through current quadrupoles via $r$-modes, which oscillate at about four thirds the spin frequency. We show for the first time how to construct searches over appropriate ranges of frequencies and spin-down parameters to target $r$-modes from known pulsars. We estimate computational costs and sensitivities of realistic $r$-mode searches using the coherent $\mathcal{F}$-statistic, and find that feasible searches for known pulsars can beat spin-down limits on gravitational wave emission even with existing LIGO and Virgo data.

An analytic approach for the study of pulsar spindown

In this work we develop an analytic approach to study pulsar spindown. We use the monopolar spindown model by Alvarez and Carramiñana (2004 Astron. Astrophys. 414 651–8), which assumes an inverse linear law of magnetic field decay of the pulsar, to extract an all-order formula for the spindown parameters using the Taylor series representation of Jaranowski et al (1998 Phys. Rev. D 58 6300). We further extend the analytic model to incorporate the quadrupole term that accounts for the emission of gravitational radiation, and obtain expressions for the period P and frequency f in terms of transcendental equations. We derive the analytic solution for pulsar frequency spindown in the absence of glitches. We examine the different cases that arise in the analysis of the roots in the solution of the non-linear differential equation for pulsar period evolution. We provide expressions for the spin-down parameters and find that the spindown values are in reasonable agreement with observations. A detection of gravitational waves from pulsars will be the next landmark in the field of multi-messenger gravitational wave astronomy.

Assessing the effects of timing irregularities on radio pulsars anomalous braking indices

We investigate the statistical effects of non-discrete timing irregularities on observed radio pulsar braking indices using correlations between the second derivative of the measured anomalous frequency (̈νobs) and some parameters that have been widely used to quantify pulsar timing fluctuations (the timing activity parameter (A), the amount of timing fluctuations absorbed by the cubic term (σR23) and a measure of pulsar rotational stability (σz)) in a large sample of 366 Jodrell Bank Observatory radio pulsars. The result demonstrates that anomalous braking indices are largely artifacts produced by aggregations of fluctuations that occur within or outside the pulsar system. For a subsample of 223 normal radio pulsars whose observed timing activity appeared consistent with instabilities in rotation of the underlying neutron stars (or timing noise) over timescales of ∼ 10 – 40 yr, |̈νobs| strongly correlates (with correlation coefficient |r| ∼ 0.80 – 0.90) with the pulsar timing activity parameters and spin-down properties. On the other hand, no meaningful correlations (r < 0.3) were found between ̈νobs and the timing activity diagnostics and spin-down parameters in the remaining 143 objects, whose timing activity appears significantly dominated by white noise fluctuations. The current result can be better understood if the timing noise in isolated pulsars originates from intrinsic spin-down processes of the underlying neutron stars, but white noise fluctuations largely arise from processes external to the pulsar system.

Optimal directed searches for continuous gravitational waves

Wide parameter space searches for long-lived continuous gravitational wave signals are computationally limited. It is therefore critically important that the available computational resources are used rationally. In this paper we consider directed searches, i.e., targets for which the sky position is known accurately but the frequency and spin-down parameters are completely unknown. Given a list of such potential astrophysical targets, we therefore need to prioritize. On which target(s) should we spend scarce computing resources? What parameter space region in frequency and spin-down should we search through? Finally, what is the optimal search setup that we should use? In this paper we present a general framework that allows us to solve all three of these problems. This framework is based on maximizing the probability of making a detection subject to a constraint on the maximum available computational cost. We illustrate the method for a simplified problem.

THE WHITE DWARF COMPANION OF A 2 M ☉ NEUTRON STAR

We report the optical discovery of the companion to the 2 M_sun millisecond pulsar PSR J1614-2230. The optical colors show that the 0.5 M_sun companion is a 2.2 Gyr old He-CO white dwarf. We infer that $\dot{M}$ during the accretion phase is <10^{-2}\dot{M}_{edd}. We show that the pulsar was born with a spin close to its current value, well below the rebirth line. The spin-down parameters, the mass of the pulsar, and the age of the system challenge the simple recycling model for the formation of millisecond pulsars.

The glitch-induced identity changes of PSR J1119−6127

We demonstrate that the high-magnetic field pulsar J1119-6127 exhibits three different types of behaviour in the radio band. Trailing the "normal" profile peak there is an "intermittent" peak and these components are flanked by two additional components showing very erratic "RRAT-like" emission. Both the intermittent and RRAT-like events are extremely rare and are preceded by a large amplitude glitch in the spin-down parameters. The post-glitch spin-down rate is smaller than the pre-glitch rate. This type of relaxation is very unusual for the pulsar population as a whole, but is observed in the glitch recovery of a RRAT. The abnormal emission behaviour in PSR J1119-6127 was observed up to three months after the epoch of the large glitch, suggestive of changes in the magnetospheric conditions during the fast part of the recovery process. We argue that both the anomalous recoveries and the emission changes could be related to reconfigurations of the magnetic field. Apart from the glitches, the spin-down of PSR J1119-6127 is relatively stable, allowing us to refine the measurement of the braking index (n=2.684\pm0.002) using more than 12 years of timing data. The properties of this pulsar are discussed in light of the growing evidence that RRATs do not form a distinct class of pulsar, but rather are a combination of different extreme emission types seen in other neutron stars. Different sub-classes of the RRATs can potentially be separated by calculating the lower limit on the modulation index of their emission. We speculate that if the abnormal behaviour in PSR J1119-6127 is indeed glitch induced then there might exist a population of neutron stars which only become visible in the radio band for a short duration in the immediate aftermath of glitch activity. These neutron stars will be visible in the radio band as sources that only emit some clustered pulses every so many years.

Internal heating of old neutron stars: contrasting different mechanisms

Context: The standard cooling models of neutron stars predict temperatures $T<10^{4}$ K for ages $t>10^{7}$ yr. However, the likely thermal emission detected from the millisecond pulsar J0437-4715, of spin-down age $t_s \sim 7\times10^9$ yr, implies a temperature $T\sim 10^5$ K. Thus, a heating mechanism needs to be added to the cooling models in order to obtain agreement between theory and observation. Aims: Several internal heating mechanisms could be operating in neutron stars, such as magnetic field decay, dark matter accretion, crust cracking, superfluid vortex creep, and non-equilibrium reactions ("rotochemical heating"). We study these mechanisms in order to establish which could be the dominant source of thermal emission from old pulsars. Methods: We show by simple estimates that magnetic field decay, dark matter accretion, and crust cracking mechanism are unlikely to have a significant effect on old neutron stars. The thermal evolution for the other mechanisms is computed using the code of Fern\'andez and Reisenegger. Given the dependence of the heating mechanisms on the spin-down parameters, we study the thermal evolution for two types of pulsars: young, slowly rotating "classical" pulsars and old, fast rotating millisecond pulsars. Results: We find that magnetic field decay, dark matter accretion, and crust cracking do not produce detectable heating of old pulsars. Rotochemical heating and vortex creep can be important both for classical pulsars and millisecond pulsars. More restrictive upper limits on the surface temperatures of classical pulsars could rule out vortex creep as the main source of thermal emission. Rotochemical heating in classical pulsars is driven by the chemical imbalance built up during their early spin-down, and therefore strongly sensitive to their initial rotation period.

Searching for gravitational waves from known pulsars using the and statistics

In search for gravitational waves emitted by known isolated pulsars in data collected by a detector, one can assume that the frequency of the wave, its spindown parameters and the position of the source in the sky are known, and so the almost monochromatic gravitational-wave signal we are looking for depends on at the most four parameters: overall amplitude, initial phase, polarization angle and inclination angle of the pulsar's rotation axis with respect to the line of sight. We derive two statistics by means of which one can test whether data contain such gravitational-wave signals: the -statistic for signals which depend on only two unknown parameters (overall amplitude and initial phase), and the -statistic for signals depending on all four parameters. We study, by means of the Fisher matrix, the theoretical accuracy of the maximum-likelihood estimators of the signal's parameters and we present the results of the Monte Carlo simulations we performed to test the accuracy of these estimators.

Timing observations of rotating radio transients

We present radio timing measurements of six rotating radio transient (RRAT) sources discovered in the Parkes Multibeam Pulsar Survey. These provide four new phase-connected timing solutions and two updated ones, making a total of seven of the original 11 reported RRATs now with high-precision rotational and astrometric parameters. Three of these seven RRATs have magnetic fields greater than 10^13 G, with spin-down properties similar to those of the magnetars and X-ray detected isolated neutron stars. Another two of these RRATs have long periods and large characteristic ages, and lie near the `death-line' for radio pulsar emission. The remaining two RRATs with timing solutions have properties typical of the bulk of the pulsar population. The new solutions offer insights into what might be responsible for the unusual emission properties. We demonstrate that the RRATs have significantly longer periods and higher magnetic fields than normal radio pulsars, and find no correlation with other spin-down parameters. These solutions also provide precise positions, which will facilitate follow-up studies at high energies, crucial for relating these sources with other neutron star populations.

X‐Ray Observations of Parsec‐scale Tails behind Two Middle‐Aged Pulsars

Chandra and XMM-Newton resolved extremely long tails behind two middle-aged pulsars, J1509–5850 and J1740+1000. The tail of PSR J1509–5850 is discernible up to 5.6' from the pulsar, which corresponds to the projected length l⊥ = 6.5d4 pc, where d = 4d4 kpc is the distance to the pulsar. The observed tail flux is 2 × 10−13 ergs s−1 cm−2 in the 0.5-8 keV band. The tail spectrum fits an absorbed power law (PL) with the photon index Γ = 2.3 ± 0.2 and 0.5-8 keV luminosity of 1 × 1033d42 ergs s−1, for nH = 2.1 × 1022 cm−2. The tail of PSR J1740+1000 is firmly detected up to 5' (l⊥ ~ 2d1.4 pc), with a flux of 6 × 10−14 ergs cm−2 s−1 in the 0.4-10 keV band. The PL fit yields Γ = 1.4-1.5, nH ≈ 1 × 1021 cm−2, and an 0.4-10 keV luminosity of ~2 × 1031d1.42 ergs s−1. The large extent of the tails suggests that the bulk flow in the tails starts as mildly relativistic downstream of the termination shock and then gradually decelerates. Within the observed extent of the J1509–5850 tail, the average flow speed exceeds 5000 km s−1, and the equipartition magnetic field is a few × 10−5 G. For the J1740+1000 tail, the equipartition field is a factor of a few lower. For the high-latitude PSR J1740+1000, the orientation of the tail suggests that the pulsar was born from a halo-star progenitor. The X-ray efficiencies of the ram pressure-confined pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) correlate poorly with the pulsar spin-down luminosities or ages. The efficiencies are systematically higher than those of PWNe around slowly moving pulsars with similar spin-down parameters.

All-sky incoherent search for periodic signals with Explorer 2005 data

The data collected during 2005 by the resonant bar Explorer are divided into segments and incoherently summed in order to perform an all-sky search for periodic gravitational wave signals. The parameter space of the search spanned about 40 Hz in frequency, over 23 927 positions in the sky. Neither source orbital corrections nor spindown parameters have been included, with the result that the search was sensitive to isolated neutron stars with a frequency drift less than 6 × 10−11 Hz s−1. No gravitational wave candidates have been found by means of the present analysis, which led to a best upper limit of 3.1 × 10−23 for the dimensionless strain amplitude.

Chebyshev-derived spindown parameters for gravitational wave signals from pulsars

The master equation described by Badri Krishnan et al. (Phys Rev. D, 70, 082001 (2004)) for the time-frequency pattern using the F-statistic is studied in the context of Chebyshev-polynomial modified spindown parameters for the case of gravitational wave pulsar signals. The Chebyshev-polynomial method enables an analytic and numeric evaluation of the Fourier transform (FT) for both the non-demodulated and F-statistic demodulated FT.PACS Nos.: 04.30.Tv, 95.85.sz, 02.30.Gp, 02.40.Re

A strong – correlation in radio pulsars with implications for torque variations

Abstract We present an analysis of the spin-down parameters for 131 radio pulsars for which has been well determined. These pulsars have characteristic ages ranging from 103 to 108 yr and spin periods in the range 0.4-30 s; nearly equal numbers of pulsars have as have . We find a strong correlation of with , independent of the sign of. We suggest that this trend can be accounted for by small, stochastic deviations in the spin-down torque that are directly proportional (in magnitude) to the spin-down torque.

Wide parameter search for isolated pulsars using the Hough transform

We use the Hough transform to analyse data from the second science run of the LIGO interferometers, to look for gravitational waves from isolated pulsars. We search over the whole sky and over a large range of frequencies and spindown parameters. Our search method is based on the Hough transform, which is a semi-coherent, computationally efficient, and robust pattern recognition technique. We also present a validation of the search pipeline using hardware signal injections.

Improved stack-slide searches for gravitational-wave pulsars

We formulate and optimize a computational search strategy for detecting gravitational waves from isolated, previously-unknown neutron stars (that is, neutron stars with unknown sky positions, spin frequencies, and spin-down parameters). It is well known that fully coherent searches over the relevant parameter-space volumes are not computationally feasible, and so more computationally efficient methods are called for. The first step in this direction was taken by Brady & Creighton (2000), who proposed and optimized a two-stage, stack-slide search algorithm. We generalize and otherwise improve upon the Brady-Creighton scheme in several ways. Like Brady & Creighton, we consider a stack-slide scheme, but here with an arbitrary number of semi-coherent stages and with a coherent follow-up stage at the end. We find that searches with three semi-coherent stages are significantly more efficient than two-stage searches (requiring about 2-5 times less computational power for the same sensitivity) and are only slightly less efficient than searches with four or more stages. We calculate the signal-to-noise ratio required for detection, as a function of computing power and neutron star spin-down-age, using our optimized searches.

The Parkes Multibeam Pulsar Survey - III. Young pulsars and the discovery and timing of 200 pulsars

The Parkes multibeam pulsar survey has unlocked vast areas of the Galactic plane which were previously invisible to earlier low-frequency and less-sensitive surveys. The survey has discovered more than 600 new pulsars so far, including many that are young and exotic. In this paper we report the discovery of 200 pulsars for which we present positional and spin-down parameters, dispersion measures, flux densities and pulse profiles. A large number of these new pulsars are young and energetic, and we review possible associations of $\gamma$-ray sources with the sample of about 1300 pulsars for which timing solutions are known. Based on a statistical analysis, we estimate that about $19\pm6$ associations are genuine. The survey has also discovered 12 pulsars with spin properties similar to those of the Vela pulsar, nearly doubling the known population of such neutron stars. Studying the properties of all known `Vela-like' pulsars, we find their radio luminosities to be similar to normal pulsars, implying that they are very inefficient radio sources. Finally, we review the use of the newly discovered pulsars as Galactic probes and discuss the implications of the new NE2001 Galactic electron density model for the determination of pulsar distances and luminosities.