Scattering features and variability of the Crab pulsar

Abstract

We report on Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope observations of the Crab pulsar at 350MHz from 2012 November 24 until 2015 June 21. During this period we consistently observe variations in the pulse profile of the Crab. Both variations in the scattering width of the pulse profile as well as delayed copies, also known as echoes, are seen regularly. These observations support the classification of two types of echoes: those that follow the truncated exponential shape expected for the thin-screen scattering approximation, and echoes that show a smoother, more Gaussian shape. During a sequence of high-cadence observations in 2015, we find that these non-exponential echoes evolve in time by approaching the main pulse and interpulse in phase, overlapping the main pulse and interpulse, and later receding. We find a pulse scatter-broadening time-scale, τ, scaling with frequency as να, with α = −3.9 ± 0.5, which is consistent with expected values for thin-screen scattering models.

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Publication Date

2-11-2019

Publication Title

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Department

Physics and Astronomy

Document Type

Article

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty3192

Keywords

Scattering, Pulsars: individual: PSR B0531+21, Supernovae: individual: M1

Language

English

Format

text

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