"China Sky Eye" has newly discovered 76 faint occasional pulsars
Han Jinlin, a researcher at the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, used the observation data of the "Chinese Sky Eye" FAST to confirm that the rotating radio transient source (RRAT) is an occasional pulsar, and 76 new RRATs were discovered. The results were published as a cover article in the academic journal Astronomy and Astrophysical Research on October 2.
The newly discovered source of rotational radio in the "Chinese Sky Eye". (Photo courtesy of the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences)
RRAT was first discovered in 2006. Before this study, more than 160 RRTs had been found in humans. Unlike ordinary pulsars, which radiate pulses continuously, RRAT only occasionally radiates pulses over a few rotational periods. Previous studies by astronomers on a small number of RRATs suggest that they may be pulsars with special properties.
In this study, the team used the "Chinese Sky Eye" to observe 59 known RRATs and found that their polarization position angles followed the polarization position angle curve of the average pulse profile. "This suggests that the occasional strong pulses of RRAT come from the same radiation region as the weak pulses of normal radiation from the neutron star's magnetosphere. FAST's high-sensitivity data suggests that RRAT is actually an epipolar pulsar. Han Jinlin said.
Panorama of "China's Sky Eye" (taken during maintenance). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Ou Dongqu
According to reports, because RRAT generally emits a pulse by chance for many cycles, it is difficult to capture it in the normal pulsar search system, and it is necessary to detect pulse by pulse from the high-sensitivity telescope observation data, and then dig out the public period after detecting several pulses.
In this study, the team used a self-developed efficient single-pulse search program to systematically search for single pulses from the "Gilactic Pulsar Snapshot Sky Survey" data conducted by China Sky Eye in the past three years, and finally found 76 new faint RRATs.
These include: 26 radio transient sources whose rotation period has not yet been discovered; 16 standard RRTs with a defined period; 10 extreme zeroing pulsars that are silent for a long time but emit a signal with a short emission period; 24 extremely faint pulsars with occasional intense pulses.
Rotating radio transient sources have an order of magnitude lower radiation flux density than ordinary pulsars. (Photo courtesy of the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences)
"These newly discovered RRATs have a radiation flux density of one order of magnitude lower than normal pulsars, and the lowest has reached the submicrocentral order." Han Jinlin said that the study has important implications for understanding how many dense neutron star remnants form after the death of stars in the Milky Way and revealing unknown pulsed radiation physical processes.
Source: Xinhua News Agency
Reporter: Zhang Quan, Ou Dongqu
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