(Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory)It is known that the radio emission of pulsars is highly polarized. Orthogonal or non-orthogonal linear polarization position angle (PA) jumps has been observed in many pulsars. Simultaneous multifrequency studies of pulsar polarization properties can help reveal the puzzling pulsar radiation behavior.

By analyzing the data observed with the Parkes 64-m radio telescope, Rukiye Rejep, a PhD student from the Pulsar Group of the Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory (XAO) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and her co-researchers have conducted a study of single-pulse polarization properties for PSR B0950+08.

The study was published in Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics (RAA, 2022, 22, 065005). 

The researchers found that the low-level bridge emission between the interpulse and the main pulse is observable at 732 MHz. However, it becomes very weak or undetectable at higher frequencies.

By using cross-correlation analysis of simultaneous observations, they found that the total intensity of single pulses is highly correlated (Figure 1).

Meanwhile, the researchers confirmed that the abrupt PA jumps are non-orthogonal in this pulsar. “The separation angle between different polarization modes is frequency-dependent.” said Rukiye.

The researchers also found that the dominant modes are associated with negative values of circular polarization, but the association seems unclear for weak modes.

Figure 1: Correlation map of total intensity for simultaneous observations.

Contact: Rukiye Rejep

Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Email: rukiya@xao.ac.cn