Intrinsic Emission of PSR B1937+21 at 327 MHz

• Published in: The Astrophysical journal Vol. 967; no. 1; pp. 34 - 46
• Main Authors: Mahajan, Nikhil, van Kerkwijk, Marten H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia The American Astronomical Society 01-05-2024; IOP Publishing
• Subjects: Bursts; Deconvolution; Emission measurements; Energy distribution; Fine structure; Impulse response; Interstellar matter; Interstellar medium; Millisecond pulsars; Pulsars; Radio bursts; Radio emission; Ultrastructure
• ISSN: 0004-637X; 1538-4357
• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad3c35

At 327 MHz, the observed emission of PSR B1937+21 is greatly affected by scattering in the interstellar medium, on a timescale of order the pulse period. We use the bright impulsive giant pulses emitted by the pulsar to measure the impulse response of the interstellar medium and then recover the intrinsic emission of the pulsar by deconvolution—revealing fine structure on timescales not normally observable. We find that the intrinsic widths of the main pulse and interpulse in the pulse profile are similar to those measured at higher frequencies. We detect 60,270 giant pulses, which typically appear as narrow, ∼100 ns bursts consisting of one to a few nanoshots with widths ≲ 10 ns. However, about 10% of the giant pulses exhibit multiple bursts that seem to be causally related to each other. We also report the first detection of giant micropulses in PSR B1937+21, primarily associated with the regular main pulse emission. These are distinct from giant pulses not only in the phases at which they occur, but also in their larger widths, of order a microsecond, and steeper energy distribution. These measurements place useful observational constraints on emission mechanisms for giant pulses as well as the regular radio emission of millisecond pulsars.