Pulsar electrodynamics: an unsolved problem

Melrose, D. B.; Yuen, R.

doi:10.1017/s0022377816000398

Cited by 50 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 100 publications

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“…Akin to sGRBs powered by the release magnetic energy stored in magnetars, FRBs may be powered by the release of electrostatic energy stored in pulsars (Katz, 2017a). Provided there are regions of magnetospheric plasma with distinct energy, separated by a vacuum gap, the discharge of such energy could manifest as "pulsar lighting", analogous to the flow of current in the atmosphere when lightning strikes (Melrose and Yuen, 2016). This intense, rapidly varying, electric field in the gaps would accelerate electrons and positrons in the magnetosphere, producing coherent curvature radiation observable as an FRB.…”

Section: Lightning In Pulsarsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A living theory catalogue for fast radio bursts

et al. 2019

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At present, we have almost as many theories to explain Fast Radio Bursts as we have Fast Radio Bursts observed. This landscape will be changing rapidly with CHIME/FRB, recently commissioned in Canada, and HIRAX, under construction in South Africa. This is an opportune time to review existing theories and their observational consequences, allowing us to efficiently curtail viable astrophysical models as more data becomes available. In this article we provide a currently up to date catalogue of the numerous and varied theories proposed for Fast Radio Bursts so far. We also launched an online evolving repository for the use and benefit of the community to dynamically update our theoretical knowledge and discuss constraints and uses of Fast Radio Bursts.

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Section: Lightning In Pulsarsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A living theory catalogue for fast radio bursts

et al. 2019

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“…These phenomena are thought to originate in the pulsar's magnetosphere and provide insights into the plasma physics of the pulsar emission. Melrose & Yuen (2016) give a recent theoretical overview of possible pulsar emission mechanisms. In the case of modechanging, simultaneous X-ray and radio observations have recently shown that bright and quiet modes switch simul- 1 Apart from various oscillatory modes of the star.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The UTMOST pulsar timing programme I: Overview and first results

Jankowski

Bailes

Straten

et al. 2018

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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We present an overview and the first results from a large-scale pulsar timing programme that is part of the UTMOST project at the refurbished Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Radio Telescope (MOST) near Canberra, Australia. We currently observe more than 400 mainly bright southern radio pulsars with up to daily cadences. For 205 (8 in binaries, 4 millisecond pulsars) we publish updated timing models, together with their flux densities, flux density variability, and pulse widths at 843 MHz, derived from observations spanning between 1.4 and 3 yr. In comparison with the ATNF pulsar catalogue, we improve the precision of the rotational and astrometric parameters for 123 pulsars, for 47 by at least an order of magnitude. The time spans between our measurements and those in the literature are up to 48 yr, which allows us to investigate their long-term spin-down history and to estimate proper motions for 60 pulsars, of which 24 are newly determined and most are major improvements. The results are consistent with interferometric measurements from the literature. A model with two Gaussian components centred at 139 and 463 km s −1 fits the transverse velocity distribution best. The pulse duty cycle distributions at 50 and 10 per cent maximum are best described by log-normal distributions with medians of 2.3 and 4.4 per cent, respectively. We discuss two pulsars that exhibit spin-down rate changes and drifting subpulses. Finally, we describe the autonomous observing system and the dynamic scheduler that has increased the observing efficiency by a factor of 2-3 in comparison with static scheduling.

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“…Melrose & Yuen 2016) that is able to produce detectable emission from radio to γ-ray frequencies (e.g. Abdo et al 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spectral Flattening at Low Frequencies in Crab Giant Pulses

Meyers¹,

Tremblay²,

Bhat³

et al. 2017

ApJ

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We report on simultaneous wideband observations of Crab giant pulses with the Parkes radio telescope and the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA). The observations were conducted simultaneously at 732 and 3100 MHz with Parkes, and at 120. 96, 165.76 and 210.56 MHz with the MWA. Flux density calibration of the MWA data was accomplished using a novel technique based on tied-array beam simulations. We detected between 90-648 giant pulses in the 120.96-210.56 MHz MWA subbands above a 5.5σ threshold while in the Parkes subbands we detected 6344 and 231 giant pulses above a threshold of 6σ at 732 and 3100 MHz, respectively. We show, for the first time over a wide frequency range, that the average spectrum of Crab giant pulses exhibits a significant flattening at low frequencies. The spectral index, α, for giant pulses evolves from a steep, narrow distribution with a mean α = −2.6 and width σ α = 0.5 between 732 and 3100 MHz, to a wide, flat distribution of spectral indices with a mean α = −0.7 and width σ α = 1.4 between 120.96 and 165.76 MHz. We also comment on the plausibility of giant pulse models for Fast Radio Bursts based on this spectral information.

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Pulsar electrodynamics: an unsolved problem

Cited by 50 publications

References 100 publications

A living theory catalogue for fast radio bursts

A living theory catalogue for fast radio bursts

The UTMOST pulsar timing programme I: Overview and first results

Spectral Flattening at Low Frequencies in Crab Giant Pulses

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