Characterizing Timing Noise in Normal Pulsars with the Nanshan Radio Telescope

Abstract

We present a decade of observations of pulse arrival times for 85 pulsars using the Nanshan radio telescope from July 2002 to March 2014. The Cholesky method can accurately estimate the covariance function of the timing residuals, significantly improving the parameter’s estimation accuracy when red noise is prominent. We utilize the Cholesky method to determine positions and basic timing parameters of these pulsars, as well as to obtain timing residuals. Most of these sources showed evidence of significant timing irregularities, which are described. The spectral analyses of timing residuals are presented for pulsars showing obvious red noise. Our results show that timing residuals in half of these pulsars are attributed to rotational irregularities. The red noise in normal pulsars may originate from a random walk in spin frequency or spin-down rate.