GBT23B-342

Pulsar Searches of Three Galactic Binary Systems

Abstract

We propose to search three recently identified Galactic binary systems for radio pulsations. Each system contains a compact object companion that is either a white dwarf or neutron star (which could also be a weak radio pulsar). Binary pulsars are valuable systems to discover owing to the many physical applications possible from their study. Our proposed observations will improve the existing sensitivity limits on these systems (currently from the GBNCC survey) to a luminosity level comparable to the lowest luminosities of the known Galactic binary pulsar population. All three systems are near to us (less than 2 kpc distant) with small expected dispersion measures (less than 40 pc cm-33). Thus, using a low observing frequency is desirable to take advantage of the likely steep radio spectrum while not suffering significantly from dispersive and scattering effects. These effects can be particularly deleterious for recycled, millisecond pulsars having small spin periods. We propose to use the same observing system as the GBNCC (using a center frequency of 350 MHz with 100 MHz bandwidth, split into 4096 channels and samples at 81.92 us). Any discoveries will be timed and studied through (separate) follow-up observations. [NOTE: This is an undergraduate research project for M.Ficarra.]

Investigators

Name	Institution
Melanie Ficarra *	Franklin and Marshall College
Fronefield Crawford	Franklin and Marshall College
Joe Lazio	Jet Propulsion Laboratory

* indicates the PI