The low-frequency characteristics of PSR J0437-4715 observed with the Murchison Widefield Array

Abstract

We report on the detection of the millisecond pulsar PSR J0437-4715 with the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) at a frequency of 192 MHz. Our observations show rapid modulations of pulse intensity in time and frequency that arise from diffractive scintillation effects in the interstellar medium (ISM), as well as prominent drifts of intensity maxima in the time-frequency plane that arise from refractive effects. Our analysis suggests that the scattering screen is located at a distance of $\sim$80-120 pc from the Sun, in disagreement with a recent claim that the screen is closer ($\sim$10 pc). Comparisons with higher frequency data from Parkes reveals a dramatic evolution of the pulse profile with frequency, with the outer conal emission becoming comparable in strength to that from the core and inner conal regions. As well as demonstrating high time resolution science capabilities currently possible with the MWA, our observations underscore the potential to conduct low-frequency investigations of timing-array millisecond pulsars, which may lead to increased sensitivity for the detection of nanoHertz gravitational waves via the accurate characterisation of ISM effects.

arXiv comment6 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters

References in corpus (26)

• The Murchison Widefield Array: the Square Kilometre Array Precursor at low radio frequencies
• PSRCHIVE and PSRFITS An Open Approach to Radio Pulsar Data Storage and Analysis
• The Second Fermi Large Area Telescope Catalog of Gamma-ray Pulsars
• DSPSR: Digital Signal Processing Software for Pulsar Astronomy
• The Parkes Pulsar Timing Array Project
• NE2001.I. A New Model for the Galactic Distribution of Free Electrons and its Fluctuations
• Multifrequency Observations of Radio Pulse Broadening and Constraints on Interstellar Electron Density Microstructure
• Precision timing of PSR J0437-4715: an accurate pulsar distance, a high pulsar mass and a limit on the variation of Newton's gravitational constant
• Measurement and correction of variations in interstellar dispersion in high-precision pulsar timing
• Extremely high precision VLBI astrometry of PSR J0437-4715 and implications for theories of gravity
• Wide-band Simultaneous Observations of Pulsars: Disentangling Dispersion Measure and Profile Variations
• Anomalous Radio-Wave Scattering from Interstellar Plasma Structures
• Ultraviolet Emission from the Millisecond Pulsar J0437-4715
• X-ray Radiation from the Millisecond Pulsar J0437-4715
• Long-Term Scintillation Studies of Pulsars: I. Observations and Basic Results
• Polarization observations of 20 millisecond pulsars
• The Parkes Observatory Pulsar Data Archive
• Pulsar Scintillation and the Local Bubble
• High-fidelity radio astronomical polarimetry using a millisecond pulsar as a polarized reference source
• Long-term Scintillation Observations of Five Pulsars at 1540 MHz
• Interstellar Scintillation of PSR J0437-4715
• The effect of Pulse profile evolution on Pulsar Dispersion Measure
• A model for double notches and bifurcated components in radio profiles of pulsars and magnetars - Evidence for the parallel acceleration maser in pulsar magnetosphere
• Interstellar Scintillation of PSR J0437-4715 on Two Scales
• Improving Pulsar Distances by Modelling Interstellar Scattering
• Millisecond Pulsar Emission Altitude from Relativistic Phase Shift: PSR J0437-4715

Cited by in corpus (18)

• The International Pulsar Timing Array: First Data Release
• A NICER View of the Nearest and Brightest Millisecond Pulsar: PSR J0437$\unicode{x2013}$4715
• A Study of Multi-frequency Polarization Pulse Profiles of Millisecond Pulsars
• Pulsar Observations Using the First Station of the Long Wavelength Array and the LWA Pulsar Data Archive
• The High Time and Frequency Resolution Capabilities of the Murchison Widefield Array
• Scintillation arcs in low-frequency observations of the timing-array millisecond pulsar J0437-4715
• Science with the Murchison Widefield Array: Phase I Results and Phase II Opportunities
• Low-Frequency Spectral Turn-Overs in Millisecond Pulsars Studied from Imaging Observations
• Low frequency spectral energy distributions of radio pulsars detected with the Murchison Widefield Array
• Time-domain and spectral properties of pulsars at 154 MHz
• Observations of Low-Frequency Radio Emission from Millisecond Pulsars and Multipath Propagation in the Interstellar Medium
• A Census of Southern Pulsars at 185 MHz
• MWA Tied-Array Processing I: Calibration and Beamformation
• Interstellar Scintillation observations for PSR B0355+54
• Interstellar scintillation and polarization of PSR B0656+14 in the Monogem Ring
• A high time resolution study of the millisecond pulsar J2241-5236 at frequencies below 300 MHz
• High time resolution search for prompt radio emission from the long GRB 210419A with the Murchison Widefield Array
• Multiwavelength Analysis of PSR J0437-4715 with Pulse Profile Modeling