Barnali Das (NCRA-TIFR)

Barnali Das Colloquium: What makes a living, lazy and luminous pulsar?

Online

Abstract

Abstract: Living, lazy and luminous pulsars are magnetic early-type stars that emit periodic radio pulses, just like a 'normal' pulsar; but rotating with a considerably less angular speed than that for neutron stars. We call such objects as 'Main-sequence Radio Pulse emitters' (MRPs). The emission mechanism behind, the electron cyclotron maser emission (ECME), is the same one that also drives coherent radio emission in planets and dwarf stars. The MRPs have been assumed to be exotic objects due to their rarity for a long time (only one such object was discovered between 2000-2015), and why this is the case has been a mystery. In my talk, I will describe an ongoing survey conducted with the updated Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (uGMRT) in an effort to resolve this issue. I will present the discoveries made so far, and an unexpected possibility that has emerged from them.