ATNF Pulsar Catalogue, v1.20: Documentation

The catalogue includes all published rotation-powered pulsars, including those detected only at high energies. It also includes Anomalous X-ray Pulsars (AXPs) and Soft Gamma-ray Repeaters (SGRs) for which coherent pulsations have been detected. However, it excludes accretion-powered pulsars such as Her X-1 and the recently discovered X-ray millisecond pulsars, for example,  SAX J1808.4-3658 (Wijnands & van der Klis, Nature, 394, 344, 1998).

The catalogue can be accessed in a number of different ways.  The simplest is from a web interface ( http://www.atnf.csiro.au/research/pulsar/psrcat ) allowing listing of the most commonly used pulsar parameters, their uncertainties and reference information. Several options for tabular output format are provided. Currently, a total of 67 predefined parameters are available: see the parameter list in Appendix A of this help file. A facility is provided for plotting of parameter distributions, either as two-dimensional plots or as histograms. Zoom facilities and interactive identication of plotted points are provided. Custom parameters can be defined by combining parameters in expressions using mathematical operators and functions and these can be either listed or plotted.  Finally,  the sample of pulsars listed or plotted can be limited by logical conditions on parameters, pulsar name (including wild-card names) or distance from a nominated position. These facilities are described in more detail below and links are provided within the web interface to relevant documentation.

After creating a table or plot, accessing the help pages or reference list, use your browser Back funtion to return to the main catalogue page.

For professional astronomers, a more detailed web interface is available allowing access to parameters of specialist interest and use of custom databases which may be either merged with or used in place of the public database. The catalogue can also be accessed using a command-line interface on unix or linux systems. Contact the authors if you would like access to these facilities.

The purpose of this documentation is to provide a description of all the features available.  A more basic tutorial is available to guide the user through the web interface (http://www.atnf.csiro.au/research/pulsar/psrcat/Tutorial/intro.html).  We encourage you to send us as much  feedback  (both positive and negative) as possible about the catalogue, interfaces and documentation.

PLEASE NOTE: If you make use of the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue in a publication, we request that you acknowledge the source of the information by referencing the paper: Manchester, R. N., Hobbs, G. B., Teoh, A. & Hobbs, M., Astron. J., 129, 1993-2006 (2005) (astro-ph/0412641), which gives a full description of the catalogue, and by quoting the web address http://www.atnf.csiro.au/research/pulsar/psrcat.
Where practicable, please list the original references for data used. Reference lists for data in a given table, both in plain text and in .bbl format, are available from links at the bottom of the table page.
 

System	Tables	References	Help files	Plotting
Netscape 4.79, JavaScript enabled, Java v. 1.2.2 (solaris)
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5
lynx, version 2.8.3

3.1.1 Display Parameters: Predefined Variables

Clicking on the pulsar name gives links to other databases which may contain information about this pulsar. Clicking on a parameter name brings up the list of parameter descriptions (Appendix A) in which the selected parameter is highlighted in red.
 

3.1.2 Display Parameters: Custom Variables

Custom variables are functions of the predefined variables. Up to four custom variables (C1, C2, C3 and C4) may be defined.  The definition is provided in the text box.  Valid expressions for this definition are given in section 4  of this documentation.  This custom variable can subsequently be used in  sorting, conditions or plotted output.  If the check-box to the left of the custom variable label is checked then this variable will be listed in any tabular output (in exponential form to 6 decimal places).  For example, a new variable (C1) can be defined to equal the square root of the period multiplied by its derivative -- enter into one of the C1, C2, C3 or C4 text boxes sqrt(p0*p1) and click on the check-box to the left of the text:

3.2 Sorting

3.3 Logical Conditions

Often the user will require results from only a selection of pulsars in the catalogue.  Filtering can be carried out on the pulsars' parameters (described in this section), by the pulsars'  names (section 3.4) or by their  position (section 3.5). The conditional expression can be any  valid  expression (section 4) with the following conditional
statements:
 

along with the following functions:

• exist(par), which returns whether the pulsar parameter (par) is recorded in the catalogue.  For example to list all binary pulsars with measured proper motions use:

 

 
 
 
 
 

exist(pmtot) && exist(pb)
 

• error(par) can be used to obtain the uncertainty on a parameter. For example, in order to obtain all pulsars with proper motion measurements in right ascension with uncertainties less than  20 mas/yr, use:

 

 
 
 
 
 

exist(pmra) && error(pmra) < 20
 

• type(str) allows the type of pulsar to be selected.  Currently avaiable types are listed in Appendix B.

For example, to select all radio pulsars:

type(radio)

or to select all pulsars which do not emit at radio wavelengths:

!type(radio)
 

• assoc(str) is true if 'str' occurs within the value of the parameter assoc. for example:

 

 
 
 
 
 

assoc(snr) will select all pulsars with SNR associations.
 

• survey(sur) is true if the pulsar was detected in the survey 'sur'. The current list of surveys is given in Section 5

 
• discovery(sur) is true is the pulsar was discovered in the survey 'sur'.

 

range(gl,320,50)

will return pulsars within the required range.  The coordinate type can be raj, rajd, gl or elong.

It is possible to supply right ascensions in hours, minutes and seconds and declinations in degrees, minutes and seconds as follows:

raj > h19:33 && decj < d-30:00

(note, the use of an 'h' to indicate hours,minutes and seconds and 'd' for degrees).  This can also be used within the range function:

range(raj,h23:01,h02:05)

This format requires a colon (i.e. hours/degrees and minutes must be entered; the use of seconds is optional).  The functions hms() and dms() may be used to convert to degrees. For example,

raj > hms(19:33) && decj < dms(-30:25)

3.4 Pulsar Names

It is possible to select pulsars that have been individually entered into the "Pulsar names" box.  For example:

would produce a table including only the pulsars B0329+54, B1933+16 and J2346-0609.  The pulsar names can be separated by a new line, comma, tab character or spaces.  It is advisable to include the `B' or `J' in front of the pulsar name;  if not both the pulsar B1950 and J2000 names will be searched for a match to the entered name.  The name may include the wildcard characters `*' and `?'.  For example, b1933+1? will match PSRs B1933+16, B1933+17 and B1933+15 whereas j004*+* will match PSRs J0040+5716 and J0048+3412.
 

3.4.1 Pulsar Ephemerides

The user may wish to obtain all (or a large amount of) the information stored for a few pulsars.  This is possible, but not practical, using the standard table forms.  It is, therefore, possible to type the names of the pulsars of interest in the `Pulsar names' area and then to select "Get Ephemeris".  Three output formats are available. Short format provides all the pulsar parameters stored in the catalogue that are understood by the  TEMPO [external link] pulsar timing package (most of the observed astrometric and rotational parameters, but no derived parameters).   Long format provides all the information obtainable from the data stored in the catalogue (all observed, survey and derived parameters) and the Selected format uses the parameter selections made in the `predefined variables' section to define which parameters to display. Examples are shown below.
 
 

Short format   JNAME           J1935+1616  RAJ             19:35:47.857             1.000e-03 DECJ            +16:16:40.60             2.000e-02 PEPOCH          42264.5  DM              158.53                   5.000e-02 PMRA            2                        3.000e+00 PMDEC           -25                      5.000e+00 POSEPOCH        40213  F0              2.78756329984            6.216e-11 F1              -4.66506e-14             3.885e-19

Long format   JNAME           J1935+1616  RAJ             19:35:47.857             1.000e-03 DECJ            +16:16:40.60             2.000e-02 PEPOCH          42264.5  P0              0.358736248270           8.000e-12 P1              6.00354e-15              5.000e-05 DM              158.53                   5.000e-02 RM              -1.9                     4.000e-01 PMRA            2                        3.000e+00 PMDEC           -25                      5.000e+00 POSEPOCH        40213  S400            242                      2.200e+01 S1400           42                       6.000e+00 W10             17.7  W50             9.0  F0              2.78756329984            6.216e-11 F1              -4.66506e-14             3.885e-19 AGE             1.0  BSURF           1.49  EDOT            5133.83  RAJD            293.9494  DECJD           16.2779  Gl              52.44  Gb              -2.09  R_LUM           15218.15  R_LUM14         2641.17  DIST_DM         7.93  TAU_SC          1.51e-05  SURVEY          jb1,ar1,mol2,gb3,ar2,ar3  DM*sin(b)       -5.79  OSURVEY         0000002616  PMTOT           25                       7.800e+00 VTRANS          939.90                   1.000e-01 P1_I            5.99922  AGE_I           1.0  BSURF_I         1.48  EDOT_I          5130.13  EDOTD2          682.17  XX              6.28  YY              3.67  ZZ              -0.29  DIST            7.93

3.5 Within Boundary

Equatorial coordinates can be entered using white spaces or colons, for example "19:33:00" is treated in the same manner as "19 33 00", "19 33" and "19:33".  It is sometimes necessary to know the angular distance between each pulsar and the central coordinate.  Selecting `Show pulsar's distance from centre of this region' will provide a new column in the tabular output giving this angular distance in degrees.

3.6 Output

3.6.1 Tabular Output

The final table can take five different forms: `short', `short with errors', `long with last digit errors', `long with errors' or `publication quality', with 'long with last digit errors' as default. The short form is used to provide a condensed summary of the pulsar parameters; periods are given to six decimal places, dispersion measures to two decimal places etc.  It is expected that this format will be used for producing tables that can be entered directly into, for instance, plotting packages where the full measured precision is not required.  The short format with errors produces a similar table, but provides uncertainties on the parameters that have corresponding errors.  The actual value of the parameter is given to the same number of decimal places as the "short" format.  The uncertainty is given in an exponent format to one decimal place. The long formats provides the parameters to their measured precision, their uncertainties and references.  From the web interface it is possible to click on a reference label to obtain the full bibliographic reference (see section 8). The uncertainty is given as an integer corresponding to the uncertainty in the last significant figure in the value.  For example, "1.2     2" can be written as "1.2 +/- 0.2".  The `publication quality' format gives the parameters to full precision with corresponding uncertainties given in parenthesis.  For example, 3.4(5) could also have been written as 3.4 +/- 0.5.  The bibliographic references are included as a separate column on the right hand side of the table.  The example below shows the table produced with the different output formats for the three pulsars with periods less than two milliseconds:
 
 

short:
short with errors:
long with last digit errors:
publication:

Selecting `No header' will produce a table with no header information at the top and with no spaces between groups of five pulsars.  If a parameter has been selected, but does not exist in the catalogue (for example, not all pulsars have had their proper motions measured) then the table will contain a `null value'.  By default, this null value is set to a '*'.  However, the user may enter any string into the Null Value text box to modify this output.  For example, the user could enter: "-999.999" or "no value".

Tabular output may be copied to a local disk using the browser 'Save As' function with Text format. Netscape provides a method of bypassing the screen display: pressing Shift and the Table button together will copy the output directly to the local disk. Alternatively, Select, Copy and Paste functions may be used. Graphical output may be copied to a local disk using a screen capture program such as xv.
 

3.6.2 Graphical Output

It is possible to display functions of the pulsar parameters as a graph or as a histogram.   For a normal (x-y) graph, the values to plot are defined as regular expressions (see examples in  section 4) and the axes of the graph can be displayed linearly or logarithmically. The expressions may contain custom-defined variables.  In the following example the user is plotting rotational periods against period derivatives on a logarithmic scale:

Binary pulsars are indicated in blue, AXP/SGRs are green, high energy pulsars are purple and the remainder in red.  It is possible to select a region on the plot using the mouse cursor, clicking and releasing the LH button to define the region.  The names of the pulsars lying within these region are displayed to the right of the graph.  Clicking on a pulsar name will put cross-hairs on the pulsar's position on the graph. The selected region can be expanded by clicked on `Zoom in' and the graph reverted to its original form by selecting `Reset Plot'.

Histograms can be produced by only entering an expression into the x-axis text-box.  For example to form a histogram of the logarithm of the rotational periods, type P0 in the x-axis box and select a logarithmic scale and then click on .   This will give the following output:
 
 

The blue colour represents binary pulsars, green AXP and SGRs and purple high energy pulsars.  Clicking on any bar will provide a listing of all the pulsars that lie within that bin of the histogram.  The number of bins can be increased or decreased by typing the required number of bins under the Number of bins heading or by clicking on the left and right arrows to decrement or increment the number of bins respectively.

3.7 A Few Examples

1. Click on the box to the left of `Name', `GL' and `GB' under the `Predefined Variables' heading at the top of the WEB interface
2. In the `Condition' box, type: p0 > 2 && dist > 3
3. Move to the bottom of the page and click on 

1. Move to the bottom of the web interface and enter `p0' in the `X-Axis' box underneath the heading `Plotted Output'.  Change `linear' to `log' to plot the graph with logarithmic axes.
2. Enter `p1' in the `Y-Axis' box and change `linear' to `log'.
3. Click on .

1. Under the `Predefined Variables' heading, select `Name', `RAJ', `DECJ' and `S400'.
2. In the `Condition' box type: decjd > -30 && exist(s400)

Click on the  icon at the bottom of the page.

Each function (except fmod) takes only one variable or expression which should be typed immediately after the function name and enclosed in parentheses.
 

The table below lists the major pulsar surveys. The category 'misc' lists pulsars discovered in other (more limited) searches.
 

the `Name' and `Email' boxes are not compulsory, but should be included if you require a reply to your comment.
 
 

The catalogue database will be upgraded both in response to user feedback and to include data from recent publications.

Name:        Pulsar name.  The B name if exists, otherwise the J name.
JName:       Pulsar name based on J2000 coordinates
RAJ:         Right ascension (J2000) (hh:mm:ss.s) 
DecJ:        Declination (J2000) (+dd:mm:ss) 
PMRA:        Proper motion in right ascension (mas/yr) 
PMDec:       Proper motion in declination (mas/yr) 
PX:          Annual parallax (mas) 
PosEpoch:    Epoch at which the position is measured (MJD) 
ELong:       Ecliptic longitude (degrees)
ELat:        Ecliptic latitude (degrees) 
PMElong:     Proper motion in ecliptic longitude (mas/yr) 
PMElat:      Proper motion in ecliptic latitude (mas/yr) 
GL:          Galactic longitude (degrees) 
GB:          Galactic latitude (degrees) 
RAJD:        Right ascension (J2000) (degrees)
DecJD:       Declination (J2000) (degrees)

P0:          Barycentric period of the pulsar (s)
P1:          Time derivative of barcycentric period (dimensionless)
F0:          Barycentric rotation frequency (Hz)
F1:          Time derivative of barycentric rotation frequency (s-2)
F2:          Second time derivative of barycentric rotation frequency (s-3)
F3:          Third time derivative of barycentric rotation frequency (s-4)
PEpoch:      Epoch of period or frequency (MJD)
DM:          Dispersion measure (cm-3 pc)
DM1:         First time derivative of dispersion measure (cm-3 pc yr-1)
RM:          Rotation measure (rad m-2)
W50:         Width of pulse at 50% of peak (ms).  Note, pulse widths are a function of both observing frequency and observational time resolution,so quoted widths are indicative only. Refer to the original reference for details. 
W10:         Width of pulse at 10% (ms). Note the comments above for W50. 
Tau_sc:      Temporal broadening of pulses at 1 GHz due to interestellar scattering (s)
S400:        Mean flux density at 400 MHz (mJy)
S1400:       Mean flux density at 1400 MHz (mJy)
SPINDX:      Measured spectral index

Binary:      Binary model (normally one of several recognised by the pulsar timing program TEMPO 
T0:          Epoch of periastron (MJD)
PB:          Binary period of pulsar (days)
A1:          Projected semi-major axis of orbit (lt s)
OM:          Longitude of periastron (degrees)
ECC:         Eccentricity
TASC:        Epoch of ascending node(MJD)
Eps1:        Ecc x sin(OM) - ELL1 binary model
Eps2:        Ecc x cos(OM) - ELL1 binary model
MinMass:     Minimum companion mass assuming i=90 degrees and neutron star mass is 1.35 Mo
MedMass:     Median companion mass assuming i=60 degrees

Dist:        Best estimate of the pulsar distance (kpc)
Dist_DM:     Distance based on the Taylor & Cordes (1993)
             electron density model. In `LONG' or `PUBLICATION QUALITY' modes,
             lower limits from the distance model are preceded by a `+' sign.
DMsinb:      DM x sin(b) (cm-3 pc)
ZZ:          Distance from the Galactic plane, based on Dist
XX:          X-Distance in X-Y-Z Galactic coordinate system (kpc)
YY:          Y-Distance in X-Y-Z Galactic coordinate system (kpc)

Assoc:       Names of other objects, for example, supernova remnants or globular clusters, associated with the pulsar
Survey:      Surveys that detected the pulsar (discovery survey first). Click here for currently defined surveys.
OSurvey:     Surveys that detected the pulsar encoded as bits in integer
Date:        Date of discovery publication.
Type:        Type codes for the pulsar. Click here for available types.
NGlt:        Number of glitches observed for the pulsar

R_Lum:       Radio luminosity at 400 MHz (mJy kpc2)
R_Lum14:     Radio luminosity at 1400 MHz (mJy kpc2)
Age:         Spin down age (yr) []
BSurf:       Surface magnetic flux density (Gauss) []
Edot:        Spin down energy loss rate (ergs/s)
Edotd2:      Energy flux at the Sun (ergs/kpc2/s)
PMTot:       Total proper motion (mas/yr)
VTrans:      Transverse velocity - based on DIST (km/s)
P1_i:        Period derivative corrected for proper motion effect 
Age_i:       Spin down age from P1_i (yr)
BSurf_i:     Surface magnetic dipole from P1_i (gauss)
Edot_i:      Spin down energy loss rate from P1_i (ergs/s)
B_LC:        Magnetic field at light cylinder