| 14th of November 2023 |
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| "Pulsar state" and "RRAT state" |
| by Sun et al. |
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Rotating radio transients (RRATs) are a subclass of pulsars that were
discovered through a single pulse search of archival data from the
Parkes multi-beam pulsar survey. These pulsars exhibit bright bursts
of radio emission with durations in the millisecond range, occurring
sporadically every few minutes to hours. To date, more than 100 RRATs
have been detected. however, the origin of RRAT emissions remains
unclear. The discovery of pulsars which exhibit transitions between
persistent "pulsar state" emissions and sporadic "RRAT state"
emissions, appears to establish a connection between pulsar nulling
and RRATs. Currently, four such pulsars have been detected. that of
normal pulsars.
Sun et al. present an analysis of two of these using ultra-wide bandwidth low-frequency (UWL) receiver on Murriyang, the Parkes 64 m radio telescope. The spectral index of each pulsar was measured, revealing distinct variations among different states. The figure above shows single-pulse stacks of PSR J0941−39 during pulsar and RRAT state modes. The team conclude that the occurrence of the RRAT state could be attributed to variations in currents within the pulsar’s magnetosphere, and suggest that the emission mechanism of RRAT may share similarities with that of a typical pulsar. |