Timing gamma-ray pulsars with the FERMI large area telescope: timing noise and astrometry

We have constructed timing solutions for 81 γ-ray pulsars covering more than five years of Fermi data. The sample includes 37 radio-quiet or radio-faint pulsars which cannot be timed with other telescopes. These timing solutions and the corresponding pulse times of arrival are prerequisites for furt...

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Main Authors: Kerr, M., Ray, P., Johnston, S., Shannon, Ryan, Camilo, F.
Format: Journal Article
Published: 2015
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/7085
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author Kerr, M.
Ray, P.
Johnston, S.
Shannon, Ryan
Camilo, F.
author_facet Kerr, M.
Ray, P.
Johnston, S.
Shannon, Ryan
Camilo, F.
author_sort Kerr, M.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description We have constructed timing solutions for 81 γ-ray pulsars covering more than five years of Fermi data. The sample includes 37 radio-quiet or radio-faint pulsars which cannot be timed with other telescopes. These timing solutions and the corresponding pulse times of arrival are prerequisites for further study, e.g., phase-resolved spectroscopy or searches for mode switches. Many γ-ray pulsars are strongly affected by timing noise (TN), and we present a new method for characterizing the noise process and mitigating its effects on other facets of the timing model. We present an analysis of TN over the population using a new metric for characterizing its strength and spectral shape, namely, its time-domain correlation. The dependence of the strength ν and n is in good agreement with previous studies. We find that noise process power spectra S(f) for unrecycled pulsars are steep, with strong correlations over our entire data set and spectral indices S(f) α f- α of a ~ 5-9. One possible explanation for these results is the occurrence of unmodeled, episodic "microglitches." Finally, we show that our treatment of TN results in robust parameter estimation, and in particular we measure a precise timing position for each pulsar. We extensively validate our results with multi-wavelength astrometry, and using our updated position, we firmly identify the X-ray counterpart of PSR J1418-6058.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-70852023-02-22T06:24:16Z Timing gamma-ray pulsars with the FERMI large area telescope: timing noise and astrometry Kerr, M. Ray, P. Johnston, S. Shannon, Ryan Camilo, F. We have constructed timing solutions for 81 γ-ray pulsars covering more than five years of Fermi data. The sample includes 37 radio-quiet or radio-faint pulsars which cannot be timed with other telescopes. These timing solutions and the corresponding pulse times of arrival are prerequisites for further study, e.g., phase-resolved spectroscopy or searches for mode switches. Many γ-ray pulsars are strongly affected by timing noise (TN), and we present a new method for characterizing the noise process and mitigating its effects on other facets of the timing model. We present an analysis of TN over the population using a new metric for characterizing its strength and spectral shape, namely, its time-domain correlation. The dependence of the strength ν and n is in good agreement with previous studies. We find that noise process power spectra S(f) for unrecycled pulsars are steep, with strong correlations over our entire data set and spectral indices S(f) α f- α of a ~ 5-9. One possible explanation for these results is the occurrence of unmodeled, episodic "microglitches." Finally, we show that our treatment of TN results in robust parameter estimation, and in particular we measure a precise timing position for each pulsar. We extensively validate our results with multi-wavelength astrometry, and using our updated position, we firmly identify the X-ray counterpart of PSR J1418-6058. 2015 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/7085 10.1088/0004-637X/814/2/128 unknown
spellingShingle Kerr, M.
Ray, P.
Johnston, S.
Shannon, Ryan
Camilo, F.
Timing gamma-ray pulsars with the FERMI large area telescope: timing noise and astrometry
title Timing gamma-ray pulsars with the FERMI large area telescope: timing noise and astrometry
title_full Timing gamma-ray pulsars with the FERMI large area telescope: timing noise and astrometry
title_fullStr Timing gamma-ray pulsars with the FERMI large area telescope: timing noise and astrometry
title_full_unstemmed Timing gamma-ray pulsars with the FERMI large area telescope: timing noise and astrometry
title_short Timing gamma-ray pulsars with the FERMI large area telescope: timing noise and astrometry
title_sort timing gamma-ray pulsars with the fermi large area telescope: timing noise and astrometry
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/7085