The TRAPUM Large Magellanic Cloud pulsar survey with MeerKAT I: Survey setup and first seven pulsar discoveries

Abstract

The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) presents a unique environment for pulsar population studies due to its distinct star formation characteristics and proximity to the Milky Way. As part of the TRAPUM (TRAnsients and PUlsars with MeerKAT) Large Survey Project, we are using the core array of the MeerKAT radio telescope (MeerKAT) to conduct a targeted search of the LMC for radio pulsars at L-band frequencies, 856-1712MHz. The excellent sensitivity of MeerKAT, coupled with a 2-hour integration time, makes the survey 3 times more sensitive than previous LMC radio pulsar surveys. We report the results from the initial four survey pointings which has resulted in the discovery of seven new radio pulsars, increasing the LMC radio pulsar population by 30 per cent. The pulse periods of these new pulsars range from 278 to 1690ms, and the highest dispersion measure is 254.20pccm${}^{-3}$. We searched for, but did not find any significant pulsed radio emission in a beam centred on the SN1987A remnant, establishing an upper limit of 6.3$\mu$Jy on its minimum flux density at 1400MHz.

12 pages, 4 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

References in corpus (41)

• The James Webb Space Telescope
• Search for an isotropic gravitational-wave background with the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array
• Searching for the nano-Hertz stochastic gravitational wave background with the Chinese Pulsar Timing Array Data Release I
• A New Electron Density Model for Estimation of Pulsar and FRB Distances
• The second data release from the European Pulsar Timing Array III. Search for gravitational wave signals
• PSRCHIVE and PSRFITS An Open Approach to Radio Pulsar Data Storage and Analysis
• Models of Pulsar Glitches
• The observed velocity distribution of young pulsars
• Getting Its Kicks: A VLBA Parallax for the Hyperfast Pulsar B1508+55
• The MeerKAT Telescope as a Pulsar Facility: System verification and early science results from MeerTime
• Discovery of 14 radio pulsars in a survey of the Magellanic Clouds
• High angular resolution ALMA images of dust and molecules in the SN 1987A ejecta
• Eight new millisecond pulsars from the first MeerKAT globular cluster census
• FAST Globular Cluster Pulsar Survey: Twenty-Four Pulsars Discovered in Fifteen Globular Clusters
• The MPIfR-MeerKAT Galactic Plane survey I -- System setup and early results
• The Thousand-Pulsar-Array programme on MeerKAT III: Giant pulse characteristics of PSR J0540$-$6919
• Emission lines due to ionizing radiation from a compact object in the remnant of Supernova 1987A
• The VMC survey -- XLIV: Mapping metallicity trends in the Large Magellanic Cloud using near-infrared passbands
• TRAPUM discovery of thirteen new pulsars in NGC 1851 using MeerKAT
• Wide field beamformed observation with MeerKAT
• The ASKAP-EMU Early Science Project: 888 MHz Radio Continuum Survey of the Large Magellanic Cloud
• New Optically Identified Supernova Remnants in the Large Magellanic Cloud
• Discovery of a very young high-mass X-ray binary associated with the supernova remnant MCSNRJ0513-6724 in the LMC
• Four pulsar discoveries in NGC 6624 by TRAPUM using MeerKAT
• The VMC survey -- XXXIX: Mapping metallicity trends in the Small Magellanic Cloud using near-infrared passbands
• Additional evidence for a pulsar wind nebula in the heart of SN 1987A from multi-epoch X-ray data and MHD modeling
• Two kinematically distinct old globular cluster populations in the Large Magellanic Cloud
• MeerKAT discovery of 13 new pulsars in Omega Centauri
• XMMU J050722.1-684758: Discovery of a new Be X-ray binary pulsar likely associated with the supernova remnant MCSNR J0507-6847
• Discovery of PSR J0523-7125 as a Circularly Polarized Variable Radio Source in the Large Magellanic Cloud
• PulsarX: a new pulsar searching package -I. A high performance folding program for pulsar surveys
• Three new high-mass X-ray binaries in the Large Magellanic Cloud
• New ASKAP Radio Supernova Remnants and Candidates in the Large Magellanic Cloud
• Catalog of the Galactic population of X-ray pulsars in High-mass X-ray binary systems
• The Thousand-Pulsar-Array programme on MeerKAT VII: Polarisation properties of pulsars in the Magellanic Clouds
• Flux density measurements for 32 pulsars in the 20 cm band
• The TRAPUM Small Magellanic Cloud pulsar survey with MeerKAT: I. Discovery of seven new pulsars and two Pulsar Wind Nebula associations
• Formation and fate of low metallicity stars in IllustrisTNG50
• A Parkes "Murriyang" Search for Pulsars and Transients in the Large Magellanic Cloud
• Detection of 49 Weak Dispersed Radio Pulses in a Parkes Observation of the X-ray Pulsar PSR J0537$-$6910
• Searching for pulsars in globular clusters with the MeerKAT Radio Telescope

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Empirical estimation of host galaxy dispersion measure towards well localized fast radio bursts
• No Pulsar Detected in Reprocessed Archival Parkes Observations of SNR 1987A