Vela Pulsar Research Articles

New high-precision measurement system for electron–positron pairs from sub-GeV/GeV gamma-rays in the emulsion telescope

The GRAINE project observes cosmic gamma-rays, using a balloon-borne emulsion-film-based telescope in the sub-GeV/GeV energy band. We reported in our previous balloon experiment in 2018, GRAINE2018, the detection of the known brightest source, Vela pulsar, with the highest angular resolution ever reported in an energy range of >80MeV. However, the emulsion scanning system used in the experiment was designed to achieve a high-speed scanning, and it was not accurate enough to ensure the optimum spatial resolution of the emulsion film and limited the performance. Here, we report a new high-precision scanning system that can be used to greatly improve the observation result of GRAINE2018 and also be employed in future experiments. The scanning system involves a new algorithm that recognizes each silver grain on an emulsion film and is capable of measuring tracks with a positional resolution for the passing points of tracks of almost the same as the intrinsic resolution of nuclear emulsion film (∼70 nm). This resolution is approximately one order of magnitude smaller than that obtained with the high-speed scanning system. With this scanning system, an angular resolution for gamma-rays of 0.1° at 1GeV is expected to be achieved. Furthermore, we successfully combine the new high-precision scanning system with the existing high-speed scanning system, enabling the high-speed and high-precision measurements. Employing these techniques, we reanalyze the gamma-ray events detected previously by only the high-speed scanning system in GRAINE2018 and obtain an about three times higher angular resolution (0.22°) in the 500–700MeV energy range. Adopting this technique in future observations may provide new insights into the gamma-ray emission from the Galactic center region and may realize polarization measurements of high-energy cosmic gamma-rays.

High-priority targets for transient gravitational waves from glitching pulsars

ABSTRACT Glitching pulsars are expected to be important sources of gravitational waves (GWs). In this paper, we explore six different models that propose the emission of transient continuous waves, lasting days to months, coincident with glitches. The maximal GW energy is calculated for each model, which is then used to determine whether associated GWs could be detectable with LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA’s O4 detectors. We provide an analytical approximation to calculate the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) which includes information about the source’s sky position, improving on previous estimates that assume isotropic or sky and orientation averaged sensitivities. By analysing the entire glitching population, we find that certain models predict detectable signals in O4, whereas others do not. We also rank glitching pulsars by SNR, based on archival data, and we find that for all models, the Vela pulsar (PSR J0835$-$4510) would provide the strongest signal. Moreover, PSR J0537$-$6910 is not expected to yield a detectable signal in O4, but will start becoming relevant for next-generation detectors. Our analysis also extends to the entire pulsar population, regardless of whether they have glitched, and we provide a list of pulsars that would present a significant signal, if they were to glitch. Finally, we apply our analysis to the 2024 April Vela glitch and find that a signal should be detectable under certain models. The non-detection of a supposedly detectable signal would provide an efficiency factor that quantifies a model’s contribution to GW emission, eventually leading to a differentiation of models and independent constraints on physical parameters.

Timing irregularities and glitches from the pulsar monitoring campaign at IAR

Pulsars have a very stable rotation overall. However, sudden increases in their rotation frequency, known as glitches, perturb their evolution. While many observatories commonly detect large glitches, small glitches are harder to detect because of the lack of daily cadence observations over long periods of time (years). We aim to explore and characterise the timing behaviour of young pulsars on daily timescales, looking for small glitches and other irregularities, in order to further our comprehension of the real distribution of glitch sizes. Our findings have consequences for the theoretical modelling of the glitch mechanism. We observed six pulsars with up to daily cadence between December 2019 and January 2024 with the two antennas of the Argentine Institute of Radio Astronomy (IAR). We used standard pulsar timing tools to obtain the times of arrival of the pulses and to characterise the pulsar's rotation. We developed an algorithm to look for small timing events in the data and calculate the changes in the frequency (nu ) and its derivative ($ at those epochs. We find that the rotation of all pulsars in this dataset is affected by small step changes in nu and $ Among them, we find three new glitches that have not been reported before: two glitches in PSR J1048$-$5832 with relative sizes of $ $ and $ $, and one glitch in the Vela pulsar with a size of $ $. We also report new decay terms on the 2021 Vela giant glitch, and on the 2022 giant glitches in PSR J0742$-$2822 and PSR J1740$-$3015, respectively. In addition, we find that the red noise contribution significantly diminished in PSR J0742$-$2822 after its giant glitch in 2022. Our results highlight the importance of high-cadence monitoring with an exhaustive analysis of the residuals to better characterise the distribution of glitch sizes and to deepen our understanding of the mechanisms behind glitches, red noise, and timing irregularities.

Prospects for the detection of very-high-energy pulsars with LHAASO and SWGO

ABSTRACT Pulsations from the Crab pulsar have been detected by the MAGIC telescopes at energies up to 1.5 TeV, and the pulsed emission from the Vela pulsar was detected by H.E.S.S., reaching tens of TeV. These discoveries, along with the proposed additional emission due to inverse Compton scattering at TeV energies, lead us to consider suitable candidates for detection with current and future extensive air show (EAS) experiments at very-high-energy (VHE; 0.1$-$100 TeV) ranges. Leveraging energy spectrum data from pulsars as observed by Fermi and Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) and considering the sensitivities of both LHAASO and SWGO, this study evaluates their detectability and estimates the time required for their significant detection. Our results indicate that LHAASO could detect the Crab’s pulsed signal within six years, while SWGO might detect Vela’s signal within one year. Observations of the most energetic Fermi pulsars with EAS experiments will provide insight into the nature of VHE pulsar emissions, helping us to clarify the primary characteristics of VHE pulsars.

Constraint on Lorentz invariance violation from Vela pulsar

The High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) Collaboration reported the discovery of a novel radiation component from the Vela pulsar by their Cherenkov telescopes. It is of great importance that gamma rays with energies of at least 20 TeV are recorded unexpectedly. The H.E.S.S. Collaboration argued that such results may challenge the state-of-the-art models for the high-energy emission of pulsars. We point out in this work that these results also provide a unique opportunity to constrain certain Lorentz invariance violation parameters, leading to the realization of studying Lorentz invariance violation by using gamma-ray pulsars. The Lorentz invariance violation scale is constrained at the level of 1.66\\,\ imes10^{17}$ ?> GeV for the linear scenario, and 3.53\\,\ imes10^{10}$ ?> GeV for the quadratic scenario. We anticipate that digging into the detailed features of the data of the Vela pulsar and analyzing potentially more very-high-energy photon data from pulsars in the future would improve the constraints on Lorentz invariance violation.

Probing the Internal Physics of Neutron Stars through the Observed Braking Indices and Magnetic Tilt Angles of Several Young Pulsars

The braking indices of pulsars may contain important information about the internal physics of neutron stars (NSs), such as neutron superfluidity and internal magnetic fields. As a subsequent paper of Cheng et al., we perform the same analysis as that done in the previous paper to other young pulsars with a steady braking index, n. Combining the timing data of these pulsars with the theory of magnetic field decay, and using their measured magnetic tilt angles, we can set constraints on the number of precession cycles, ξ, which represents the interactions between superfluid neutrons and other particles in the NS interior. For the pulsars considered in this paper, the results show that ξ is within the range of a few ×103 to a few ×106. Interestingly, for the Crab and Vela pulsars, the constraints on ξ obtained with our method are generally consistent with that derived from modeling of the glitch rise behaviors of the two pulsars. Furthermore, we find that the internal magnetic fields of pulsar with n < 3 may be dominated by the toroidal components. Our results may not only help to understand the interactions between the superfluid neutrons and other particles in the interior of NSs but also be important for the study of continuous gravitational waves from pulsars.

First results of the glitching pulsar monitoring programme at the Argentine Institute of Radioastronomy

ABSTRACT We report here on the first results of a systematic monitoring of southern glitching pulsars at the Argentine Institute of Radioastronomy that started in the year 2019. We detected a major glitch in the Vela pulsar (PSR J0835 − 4510) and two small glitches in PSR J1048 − 5832. For each glitch, we present the measurement of glitch parameters by fitting timing residuals. We then make an individual pulse study of Vela in observations before and after the glitch. We selected 6 days of observations around the major glitch on 2021 July 22 and study their statistical properties with machine learning techniques. We use variational autoencoder (VAE) reconstruction of the pulses to separate them clearly from the noise. We perform a study with self-organizing map (SOM) clustering techniques to search for unusual behaviour of the clusters during the days around the glitch not finding notable qualitative changes. We have also detected and confirmed recent glitches in PSR J0742 − 2822 and PSR J1740 − 3015.

An Observational Study of Single Pulse of PSR J0835-4510

Vela pulsar (PSR J0835-4510) was observed in L-band with the 40-meter radio telescope at the Haoping Observatory of National Time Service Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences. 38040 single pulses were detected in 56 minutes. The half-maximum line width (W50) of these single pulses ranges from 0.52 to 3.3 ms, with an average value of 1.5 ms. This is smaller than that of the integral profile, which is 1.9 ms. The signal-noise ratio (S/N) of single pulses ranges from 6.8 to 495, with an average S/N value of 32.4. About 58% of the peak of single pulses arrived earlier than the peak of integral pulse profile, the earliest was 2.3 ms earlier. Lognormal distribution fits the radiation energy of single pulses with average μ=−0.02 and standard deviation σ = 0.28. One normal single pulse was detected in the leading edge of the pulsar radiation window, with the S/N values of 47.4. There are 69 single pulses with S/N larger than 5 times the detected average S/N value of single pulses. These strong pulses are relatively narrow, and their W50 ranges from 0.52 to 1.04 ms. These pulses are located near the rising edge of the average pulse profile. There are 23 single pulses detected with bimodal structure. The primary and secondary peaks are located in different radiation regions. It is found that the influences of strong single pulses and double peak single pulses on average pulse profile are different by studying the integral pulse profile of different types of single pulses.

Searches for Gravitational Waves from Known Pulsars at Two Harmonics in the Second and Third LIGO-Virgo Observing Runs

We present a targeted search for continuous gravitational waves (GWs) from 236 pulsars using data from the third observing run of LIGO and Virgo (O3) combined with data from the second observing run (O2). Searches were for emission from the l = m = 2 mass quadrupole mode with a frequency at only twice the pulsar rotation frequency (single harmonic) and the l = 2, m = 1, 2 modes with a frequency of both once and twice the rotation frequency (dual harmonic). No evidence of GWs was found, so we present 95% credible upper limits on the strain amplitudes h 0 for the single-harmonic search along with limits on the pulsars’ mass quadrupole moments Q 22 and ellipticities ε. Of the pulsars studied, 23 have strain amplitudes that are lower than the limits calculated from their electromagnetically measured spin-down rates. These pulsars include the millisecond pulsars J0437−4715 and J0711−6830, which have spin-down ratios of 0.87 and 0.57, respectively. For nine pulsars, their spin-down limits have been surpassed for the first time. For the Crab and Vela pulsars, our limits are factors of ∼100 and ∼20 more constraining than their spin-down limits, respectively. For the dual-harmonic searches, new limits are placed on the strain amplitudes C 21 and C 22. For 23 pulsars, we also present limits on the emission amplitude assuming dipole radiation as predicted by Brans-Dicke theory.

Neutrino Rocket Jet Model: An Explanation of High-velocity Pulsars and Their Spin-down Evolution

The fact that the spatial velocity of pulsars is generally higher than that of their progenitor stars has bothered astronomers for nearly 50 years. It has been extensively argued that the high pulsar velocity should be acquired during a natal kick process on a timescale of 100 ms–10 s in the supernova explosion, in which some asymmetrical dynamical mechanism plays a key role. However, a satisfactory picture generally is still lacking. In this study, it is argued that the neutrino rocket model can well account for the high speed as well as the long-term evolution behaviors of pulsars. The neutrinos are emitted from superfluid vortex neutrons through the neutrino cyclotron radiation mechanism. The unique characters of left-handed neutrinos and right-handed antineutrinos resulting from the nonconservation of parity in weak interactions play a major role in the spatial asymmetry. The continuous acceleration of pulsars can be naturally explained by this model, which yields a maximum velocity surpassing 1000 km s−1. The alignment between the spinning axis and the direction of motion observed for the Crab pulsar (PSR 0531) and the Vela pulsar (PSR 0833) can be well accounted for. The observed correlation between the spin-down rate and the period of long-period pulsars with P ≳ 0.5 s can also be satisfactorily explained.

Probing the High-energy Gamma-Ray Emission Mechanism in the Vela Pulsar via Phase-resolved Spectral and Energy-dependent Light-curve Modeling

Abstract Recent kinetic simulations sparked a debate regarding the emission mechanism responsible for pulsed GeV γ-ray emission from pulsars. Some models invoke curvature radiation, while other models assume synchrotron radiation in the current sheet. We interpret the curved spectrum of the Vela pulsar as seen by H.E.S.S. II (up to ∼100 GeV) and the Fermi Large Area Telescope to be the result of curvature radiation due to primary particles in the pulsar magnetosphere and current sheet. We present phase-resolved spectra and energy-dependent light curves using an extended slot gap and current-sheet model, invoking a step function for the accelerating electric field as motivated by kinetic simulations. We include a refined calculation of the curvature radius of particle trajectories in the lab frame, impacting the particle transport, predicted light curves, and spectra. Our model reproduces the decrease of the flux of the first peak relative to the second one, evolution of the bridge emission, near-constant phase positions of peaks, and narrowing of pulses with increasing energy. We can explain the first of these trends because we find that the curvature radii of the particle trajectories in regions where the second γ-ray light-curve peak originates are systematically larger than those associated with the first peak, implying that the spectral cutoff of the second peak is correspondingly larger. However, an unknown azimuthal dependence of the E field, as well as uncertainty in the precise spatial origin of the GeV emission, precludes a simplistic discrimination of emission mechanisms.

Vela pulsar: single pulses analysis with machine learning techniques

ABSTRACT We study individual pulses of Vela (PSR B0833−45/J0835−4510) from daily observations of over 3 h (around 120 000 pulses per observation), performed simultaneously with the two radio telescopes at the Argentine Institute of Radioastronomy. We select four days of observations in 2021 January to March and study their statistical properties with machine learning techniques. We first use Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise clustering techniques, associating pulses mainly by amplitudes, and find a correlation between higher amplitudes and earlier arrival times. We also find a weaker (polarization dependent) correlation with the mean width of the pulses. We identify clusters of the so-called mini-giant pulses, with ∼10 times the average pulse amplitude. We then perform an independent study, with Self-Organizing Maps (SOM) clustering techniques. We use Variational AutoEncoder (VAE) reconstruction of the pulses to separate them clearly from the noise and select one of the days of observation to train VAE and apply it to the rest of the observations. We use SOM to determine four clusters of pulses per day per radio telescope and conclude that our main results are robust and self-consistent. These results support models for emitting regions at different heights (separated each by roughly a hundred km) in the pulsar magnetosphere. We also model the pulses amplitude distribution with interstellar scintillation patterns at the inter-pulses time-scale finding a characterizing exponent nISS ∼ 7–10. In the appendices, we discuss independent checks of hardware systematics with the simultaneous use of the two radio telescopes in different one-polarization/two-polarizations configurations. We also provide a detailed analysis of the processes of radio-interferences cleaning and individual pulse folding.

Performance of an emulsion telescope for gamma-ray observations in the GRAINE2018 balloon-borne experiment

Abstract The Gamma-Ray Astro-Imager with Nuclear Emulsion (GRAINE) project is aimed at the precise observation of astronomical gamma-ray sources in the energy range of 10 MeV–100 GeV using a balloon-borne telescope utilizing a nuclear emulsion, which can help realize precise imaging with high angular resolution (1.0○ at 100 MeV), polarization sensitivity, and large aperture area (10 m2). In 2018, the third balloon experiment was carried out as a demonstration of the detection of the brightest known astronomical gamma-ray source, the Vela pulsar, with an aperture area of 0.38 m2. In these data, some gamma rays were produced by the π0 → 2γ decay, which was caused by the hadronic interactions of cosmic rays in the detector. These could be used to calibrate the reconstructed angle, energy, and so on. In this study, we establish a method of searching for hadronic interactions and concomitant gamma rays with high statistics and purity. Our analysis indicates that the performance of our detector for gamma rays is as expected in wide incidence angle and energy ranges. We plan to commence scientific observations using the proposed system with the verified high angular resolution and largest aperture area in 2022 or later.

Observational Constraints on the Pulsar Wind Model: The Cases of Crab and Vela

Abstract As is well known, pulsars are extremely stable rotators. However, although slowly, they spindown thanks to brake mechanisms, which are in fact still a subject of intense investigation in the literature. Since pulsars are usually modeled as highly magnetized neutron stars that emit beams of electromagnetic radiation out of their magnetic poles, it is reasonable to consider that the spindown has to do with a magnetic brake. Although an interesting and simple idea, a pure magnetic brake is not able to adequately account for the spindown rate. Thus, many alternative spindown mechanisms appear in the literature, among them the pulsar wind model, where the wind of particles coming from the pulsar itself can carry part of its rotational kinetic energy. Such a spindown mechanism depends critically on three parameters, namely, the dipole magnetic field (B), the angle between the magnetic and rotation axes (ϕ), and the density of primary particles (ζ) of the pulsar’s magnetosphere. Differently from a series of articles in this subject, we consider for the first time in the literature a statistical modeling that includes a combination of a magnetic dipole and wind brakes. As a result, we are able to constrain the above referred parameters in particular for Crab and Vela pulsars.

Gravitational-wave Constraints on the Equatorial Ellipticity of Millisecond Pulsars

Abstract We present a search for continuous gravitational waves from five radio pulsars, comprising three recycled pulsars (PSR J0437−4715, PSR J0711−6830, and PSR J0737−3039A) and two young pulsars: the Crab pulsar (J0534+2200) and the Vela pulsar (J0835−4510). We use data from the third observing run of Advanced LIGO and Virgo combined with data from their first and second observing runs. For the first time, we are able to match (for PSR J0437−4715) or surpass (for PSR J0711−6830) the indirect limits on gravitational-wave emission from recycled pulsars inferred from their observed spin-downs, and constrain their equatorial ellipticities to be less than 10−8. For each of the five pulsars, we perform targeted searches that assume a tight coupling between the gravitational-wave and electromagnetic signal phase evolution. We also present constraints on PSR J0711−6830, the Crab pulsar, and the Vela pulsar from a search that relaxes this assumption, allowing the gravitational-wave signal to vary from the electromagnetic expectation within a narrow band of frequencies and frequency derivatives.

Turbulent, pinned superfluids in neutron stars and pulsar glitch recoveries

ABSTRACT Pulsar glitches offer an insight into the dynamics of superfluids in the high-density interior of a neutron star. To model these phenomena, however, one needs to have an understanding of the dynamics of a turbulent array of superfluid vortices moving through a pinning lattice. In this paper, we develop a theoretical approach to describe vortex-mediated mutual friction in a pinned, turbulent and rotating superfluid. Our model is then applied to the study of the post-glitch rotational evolution in the Vela pulsar and in PSR J0537-6910. We show that in both cases a turbulent model fits the evolution of the spin frequency derivative better than a laminar one. We also predict that the second derivative of the frequency after a glitch should be correlated with the waiting time since the previous glitch, which we find to be consistent with observational data for these pulsars. The main conclusion of this paper is that in the post-glitch rotational evolution of these two pulsars we are most likely observing the response to the glitch of a pinned turbulent region of the star (possibly the crust) and not the laminar response of a regular straight vortex array.

Intriguing Drifting Subpulses in the Vela Pulsar

Abstract We report on the discovery of drifting subpulses from the Vela pulsar, observed using the Yunnan 40 m radio telescope at 6800 MHz observing frequency. The single pulses show the presence of two distinct drifting patterns, where the central component is modulated in longitude and amplitude simultaneously with a period of 9 pulses, and the trailing component remains phase stationary within the pulse window but periodically changes in intensity with a period of 29 pulses. The leading component emission remains constant in intensity and pulse phase. Such periodic modulation in the Vela pulsar is a separate phenomenon from periodic nulling and traditional subpulse drifting, which may lead to a greater understanding of the pulse emission mechanism.

Giant Micropulse Emission in the Vela Pulsar at the C Band

Abstract We present here the analysis of giant micropulses from the Vela pulsar. A total of 4187 giant micropulses with peak flux density &gt;2.5 Jy were detected during almost 4 hr of observations carried out with the Yunnan 40 m radio telescope at 6800 MHz. Nine of the giant micropulses arrived approximately 3–4 ms earlier than the peak of average pulse profile, longer than that at lower frequencies. The remaining giant micropulses were clustered into three distributions that correspond to three main emission regions, including four giant micropulses occurring on the trailing edge of the averaged profile. We find that the peak flux density distribution follows a power law with index α ≈ −4. Furthermore, a certain amount of memory is present from the giant micropulse waiting time distribution. Possible emission mechanisms are discussed.

Complex emission patterns: fluctuations and bistability of polar-cap potentials

ABSTRACT Development of the ion-proton pulsar model extends it to the limit of large unscreened polar-cap potentials, for example, as in the Vela pulsar, in which ion charges differ only by small increments from their complete screening values. It is shown that the atomic number Z of an ion following its passage from the canonical Z0 = 26 value through the electromagnetic shower region to the surface is not necessarily time-independent but can vary between fixed limits in an irregular or quasi-periodic way in a characteristic time of the order of 104 s. Thus, at a certain Z the system may transition to an unstable state of higher electric potential and it is argued that this is the physical basis for mode-changes, long-term nulls, periodic or otherwise. The model requires an orientation of magnetic dipole moment relative to rotational spin giving a positive corotational charge density. Success of the model would fix the particle composition of the remaining parts of the magnetosphere, including the Y-point and is therefore relevant to X-ray and γ-ray emission processes.

Vortex pinning in the superfluid core of neutron stars and the rise of pulsar glitches

ABSTRACT Timing of the Crab and Vela pulsars has recently revealed very peculiar evolutions of their spin frequency during the early stage of a glitch. We show that these differences can be interpreted from the interactions between neutron superfluid vortices and proton fluxoids in the core of these neutron stars. In particular, pinning of individual vortices to fluxoids is found to have a dramatic impact on the mutual friction between the neutron superfluid and the rest of the star. The number of fluxoids attached to vortices turns out to be a key parameter governing the global dynamics of the star. These results may have implications for the interpretation of other astrophysical phenomena such as pulsar-free precession or the r-mode instability.