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Abstract:
Pulsars play a crucial role in exploring a wide range of physics and
astrophysics, such as probing dense-matter physics and testing
strong-field gravity. Traditional pulsar surveys have mostly used
time-domain periodicity searches, but these methods can be hindered by
scattering, eclipses, and orbital motion, especially at low radio
frequencies (<300 MHz). In contrast, image domain searches for pulsars
are more effective against these effects, enabling new discoveries in
the parameter space unreachable by traditional methods. To exploit the
capability of image-based pulsar searches, a pipeline has been
developed to form 1-second full Stokes images from
high-time-resolution data (Voltage Capture System, VCS) from the
Murchison Widefield Array (MWA). This led to the exploration of
image-based techniques for identifying new pulsar candidates.
In this talk, I will describe a low-frequency image-based pulsar
census of the Galactic Plane (GP) with the MWA focused on detecting
the known pulsars in the observed region of the sky using both
image-based and beamformed methods. This effort led to our detection
of known pulsars, with some being detected for the first time at
low-frequency (150 MHz). The continuum flux densities of the pulsars
detected in our image-based GP survey are significantly more reliable
than the timing flux densities and therefore offer an additional
benefit as flux densities are not readily available or are unreliable
for many known pulsars at low frequencies. Therefore, imaging is an
effective approach for discovering new pulsars in less-explored
regions of the DM space and improving the spectral modelling of the
known detected pulsars. Upcoming facilities like SKA-Low will enhance
the success of such image-based pulsar searches and aid in identifying
new pulsar candidates.
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