A Pilot Study of Nulling in 22 Pulsars Using Mixture Modeling
The phenomenon of pulsar nulling, observed as the temporary inactivity of a pulsar, remains poorly understood both observationally and theoretically. Most observational studies that quantify nulling employ a variant of Ritchings algorithm, which can suffer significant biases for pulsars where the em...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2023-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acbb68 |
| _version_ | 1797696361630531584 |
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| author | Akash Anumarlapudi Joseph K. Swiggum David L. Kaplan Travis D. J. Fichtenbauer |
| author_facet | Akash Anumarlapudi Joseph K. Swiggum David L. Kaplan Travis D. J. Fichtenbauer |
| author_sort | Akash Anumarlapudi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The phenomenon of pulsar nulling, observed as the temporary inactivity of a pulsar, remains poorly understood both observationally and theoretically. Most observational studies that quantify nulling employ a variant of Ritchings algorithm, which can suffer significant biases for pulsars where the emission is weak. Using a more robust mixture model method, we study pulsar nulling in a sample of 22 recently discovered pulsars, for which we publish the nulling fractions for the first time. These data clearly demonstrate biases of the former approach and show how an otherwise nonnulling pulsar can be classified as having significant nulls. We show that the population-wide studies that find a positive correlation of nulling with pulsar period/characteristic age can similarly be biased because of the bias in estimating the nulling fraction. We use our probabilistic approach to find the evidence for periodicity in the nulls in a subset of three pulsars in our sample. In addition, we also provide improved timing parameters for 17 of the 22 pulsars that had no prior follow-up. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T03:25:18Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ad3a2a53219d44408279ef8381bef743 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1538-4357 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T03:25:18Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-ad3a2a53219d44408279ef8381bef7432023-09-03T13:39:04ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572023-01-0194813210.3847/1538-4357/acbb68A Pilot Study of Nulling in 22 Pulsars Using Mixture ModelingAkash Anumarlapudi0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8935-9882Joseph K. Swiggum1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1075-3837David L. Kaplan2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6295-2881Travis D. J. Fichtenbauer3Center for Gravitation, Cosmology, and Astrophysics, Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee , PO Box 413, Milwaukee, WI, 53201, USA aakash@uwm.eduCenter for Gravitation, Cosmology, and Astrophysics, Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee , PO Box 413, Milwaukee, WI, 53201, USA aakash@uwm.edu; Dept. of Physics , 730 High St., Lafayette College, Easton, PA 18042, USACenter for Gravitation, Cosmology, and Astrophysics, Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee , PO Box 413, Milwaukee, WI, 53201, USA aakash@uwm.eduCenter for Gravitation, Cosmology, and Astrophysics, Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee , PO Box 413, Milwaukee, WI, 53201, USA aakash@uwm.eduThe phenomenon of pulsar nulling, observed as the temporary inactivity of a pulsar, remains poorly understood both observationally and theoretically. Most observational studies that quantify nulling employ a variant of Ritchings algorithm, which can suffer significant biases for pulsars where the emission is weak. Using a more robust mixture model method, we study pulsar nulling in a sample of 22 recently discovered pulsars, for which we publish the nulling fractions for the first time. These data clearly demonstrate biases of the former approach and show how an otherwise nonnulling pulsar can be classified as having significant nulls. We show that the population-wide studies that find a positive correlation of nulling with pulsar period/characteristic age can similarly be biased because of the bias in estimating the nulling fraction. We use our probabilistic approach to find the evidence for periodicity in the nulls in a subset of three pulsars in our sample. In addition, we also provide improved timing parameters for 17 of the 22 pulsars that had no prior follow-up.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acbb68Radio pulsarsRadio astronomyNeutron stars |
| spellingShingle | Akash Anumarlapudi Joseph K. Swiggum David L. Kaplan Travis D. J. Fichtenbauer A Pilot Study of Nulling in 22 Pulsars Using Mixture Modeling The Astrophysical Journal Radio pulsars Radio astronomy Neutron stars |
| title | A Pilot Study of Nulling in 22 Pulsars Using Mixture Modeling |
| title_full | A Pilot Study of Nulling in 22 Pulsars Using Mixture Modeling |
| title_fullStr | A Pilot Study of Nulling in 22 Pulsars Using Mixture Modeling |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Pilot Study of Nulling in 22 Pulsars Using Mixture Modeling |
| title_short | A Pilot Study of Nulling in 22 Pulsars Using Mixture Modeling |
| title_sort | pilot study of nulling in 22 pulsars using mixture modeling |
| topic | Radio pulsars Radio astronomy Neutron stars |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acbb68 |
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