TY - JOUR
T1 - A census of the pulsar population observed with the international LOFAR station FR606 at low frequencies (25-80 MHz)
AU - Bondonneau, L.
AU - Grießmeier, J. M.
AU - Theureau, G.
AU - Bilous, A. V.
AU - Kondratiev, V. I.
AU - Serylak, M.
AU - Keith, M. J.
AU - Lyne, A. G.
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgements. This works makes extensive use of matplotlib (Hunter 2007), seaborn Python plotting libraries and NASA’s Astrophysics Data System. LOFAR, the Low-Frequency Array designed and constructed by ASTRON, has facilities in several countries, that are owned by various parties (each with their own funding sources), and that are collectively operated by the International LOFAR Telescope (ILT) foundation under a joint scientific policy. The Nançay Radio Observatory is operated by Paris Observatory, associated with the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Université d’Orléans. This work was supported by the “Entretiens sur les pulsars” funded by Programme National High Energies (PNHE) of CNRS/INSU with INP and IN2P3, co-funded by CEA and CNES. The Lovell Telescope is owned and operated by the University of Manchester as part of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics with support from the Science and Technology Facilities Council of the United Kingdom. The Nançay Radio Observatory is operated by the Paris Observatory, associated with the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). The authors would like to thanks D. Smith for fruitful discussions.
Publisher Copyright:
© L. Bondonneau et al. 2020.
PY - 2020/3/1
Y1 - 2020/3/1
N2 - Context. To date, only 69 pulsars have been identified with a detected pulsed radio emission below 100 MHz. A LOFAR-core LBA census and a dedicated campaign with the Nançay LOFAR station in stand-alone mode were carried out in the years 2014-2017 in order to extend the known population in this frequency range. Aims. In this paper, we aim to extend the sample of known radio pulsars at low frequencies and to produce a catalogue in the frequency range of 25-80 MHz. This will allow future studies to probe the local Galactic pulsar population, in addition to helping explain their emission mechanism, better characterising the low-frequency turnover in their spectra, and obtaining new information about the interstellar medium through the study of dispersion, scattering, and scintillation. Methods. We observed 102 pulsars that are known to emit radio pulses below 200 MHz and with declination above-30°. We used the Low Band Antennas (LBA) of the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) international station FR606 at the Nançay Radio Observatory in stand-alone mode, recording data between 25 and 80 MHz. Results. Out of our sample of 102 pulsars, we detected 64. We confirmed the existence of ten pulsars detected below 100 MHz by the LOFAR LBA census for the first time (Bilous et al. 2020, A&A, 635, A75) and we added two more pulsars that had never before been detected in this frequency range. We provided average pulse profiles, DM values, and mean flux densities (or upper limits in the case of non-detections). The comparison with previously published results allows us to identify a hitherto unknown spectral turnover for five pulsars, confirming the expectation that spectral turnovers are a widespread phenomenon.
AB - Context. To date, only 69 pulsars have been identified with a detected pulsed radio emission below 100 MHz. A LOFAR-core LBA census and a dedicated campaign with the Nançay LOFAR station in stand-alone mode were carried out in the years 2014-2017 in order to extend the known population in this frequency range. Aims. In this paper, we aim to extend the sample of known radio pulsars at low frequencies and to produce a catalogue in the frequency range of 25-80 MHz. This will allow future studies to probe the local Galactic pulsar population, in addition to helping explain their emission mechanism, better characterising the low-frequency turnover in their spectra, and obtaining new information about the interstellar medium through the study of dispersion, scattering, and scintillation. Methods. We observed 102 pulsars that are known to emit radio pulses below 200 MHz and with declination above-30°. We used the Low Band Antennas (LBA) of the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) international station FR606 at the Nançay Radio Observatory in stand-alone mode, recording data between 25 and 80 MHz. Results. Out of our sample of 102 pulsars, we detected 64. We confirmed the existence of ten pulsars detected below 100 MHz by the LOFAR LBA census for the first time (Bilous et al. 2020, A&A, 635, A75) and we added two more pulsars that had never before been detected in this frequency range. We provided average pulse profiles, DM values, and mean flux densities (or upper limits in the case of non-detections). The comparison with previously published results allows us to identify a hitherto unknown spectral turnover for five pulsars, confirming the expectation that spectral turnovers are a widespread phenomenon.
KW - ISM: general
KW - Pulsars: general
KW - Telescopes
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85088321162&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1051/0004-6361/201936829
DO - 10.1051/0004-6361/201936829
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85088321162
SN - 0004-6361
VL - 635
JO - Astronomy and Astrophysics
JF - Astronomy and Astrophysics
M1 - A76
ER -