The Astrophysical Journal (Jan 2022)
The NANOGrav 12.5 yr Data Set: Polarimetry and Faraday Rotation Measures from Observations of Millisecond Pulsars with the Green Bank Telescope
- H. M. Wahl,
- M. A. McLaughlin,
- P. A. Gentile,
- M. L. Jones,
- R. Spiewak,
- Z. Arzoumanian,
- K. Crowter,
- P. B. Demorest,
- M. E. DeCesar,
- T. Dolch,
- J. A. Ellis,
- R. D. Ferdman,
- E. C. Ferrara,
- E. Fonseca,
- N. Garver-Daniels,
- G. Jones,
- M. T. Lam,
- L. Levin,
- N. Lewandowska,
- D. R. Lorimer,
- R. S. Lynch,
- D. R. Madison,
- C. Ng,
- D. J. Nice,
- T. T. Pennucci,
- S. M. Ransom,
- P. Ray,
- I. H. Stairs,
- K. Stovall,
- J. K. Swiggum,
- W. W. Zhu
Affiliations
- H. M. Wahl
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, West Virginia University , P.O. Box 6315, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA ; [email protected]; Center for Gravitational Waves and Cosmology, West Virginia University , Chestnut Ridge Research Building, Morgantown, WV 26505, USA
- M. A. McLaughlin
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, West Virginia University , P.O. Box 6315, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA ; [email protected]; Center for Gravitational Waves and Cosmology, West Virginia University , Chestnut Ridge Research Building, Morgantown, WV 26505, USA
- P. A. Gentile
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, West Virginia University , P.O. Box 6315, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA ; [email protected]; Center for Gravitational Waves and Cosmology, West Virginia University , Chestnut Ridge Research Building, Morgantown, WV 26505, USA
- M. L. Jones
- ORCiD
- Center for Gravitation, Cosmology and Astrophysics, Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee , P.O. Box 413, Milwaukee, WI 53201, USA
- R. Spiewak
- ORCiD
- Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester , Manchester M13 9PL, UK; Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology , P.O. Box 218, Hawthorn, Victoria 3122, Australia
- Z. Arzoumanian
- X-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 662, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- K. Crowter
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia , 6224 Agricultural Road, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada
- P. B. Demorest
- ORCiD
- National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 1003 Lopezville Road, Socorro, NM 87801, USA
- M. E. DeCesar
- ORCiD
- George Mason University , Fairfax, VA, 22030, Resident at the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375, USA
- T. Dolch
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, Hillsdale College, 33 E. College Street, Hillsdale, MI 49242, USA; Eureka Scientific, Inc. 2452 Delmer Street, Suite 100, Oakland, CA 94602-3017, USA
- J. A. Ellis
- Infinia ML, 202 Rigsbee Avenue, Durham, NC 27701, USA
- R. D. Ferdman
- ORCiD
- School of Chemistry, University of East Anglia , Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK
- E. C. Ferrara
- ORCiD
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA; Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland , College Park, MD, 20742, USA; Center for Exploration and Space Studies (CRESST), NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- E. Fonseca
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, McGill University , 3600 University Street, Montreal, QC H3A 2T8, Canada
- N. Garver-Daniels
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, West Virginia University , P.O. Box 6315, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA ; [email protected]; Center for Gravitational Waves and Cosmology, West Virginia University , Chestnut Ridge Research Building, Morgantown, WV 26505, USA
- G. Jones
- Department of Astronomy, Columbia University , 550 W. 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USA
- M. T. Lam
- ORCiD
- School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY 14623, USA; Laboratory for Multiwavelength Astrophysics, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY 14623, USA
- L. Levin
- ORCiD
- Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Manchester , Manchester M13 9PL, UK
- N. Lewandowska
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, West Virginia University , P.O. Box 6315, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA ; [email protected]; Center for Gravitational Waves and Cosmology, West Virginia University , Chestnut Ridge Research Building, Morgantown, WV 26505, USA
- D. R. Lorimer
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, West Virginia University , P.O. Box 6315, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA ; [email protected]; Center for Gravitational Waves and Cosmology, West Virginia University , Chestnut Ridge Research Building, Morgantown, WV 26505, USA
- R. S. Lynch
- ORCiD
- Green Bank Observatory, P.O. Box 2, Green Bank, WV 24944, USA
- D. R. Madison
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, West Virginia University , P.O. Box 6315, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA ; [email protected]; Center for Gravitational Waves and Cosmology, West Virginia University , Chestnut Ridge Research Building, Morgantown, WV 26505, USA; Department of Physics, University of the Pacific , 3601 Pacific Avenue, Stockton, CA 95211, USA
- C. Ng
- ORCiD
- Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Toronto , 50 St. George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3H4, Canada
- D. J. Nice
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, Lafayette College , Easton, PA 18042, USA
- T. T. Pennucci
- ORCiD
- Institute of Physics, Eötvös Loránd University , Pázmány P.s. 1/A, 1117 Budapest, Hungary
- S. M. Ransom
- ORCiD
- National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA
- P. Ray
- ORCiD
- Space Science Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375-5352, USA
- I. H. Stairs
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia , 6224 Agricultural Road, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada
- K. Stovall
- ORCiD
- National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 1003 Lopezville Road, Socorro, NM 87801, USA
- J. K. Swiggum
- ORCiD
- George Mason University , Fairfax, VA, 22030, Resident at the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375, USA
- W. W. Zhu
- ORCiD
- National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Science, 20A Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100012, People's Republic of China
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac4045
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 926,
no. 2
p. 168
Abstract
In this work, we present polarization profiles for 23 millisecond pulsars observed at 820 and 1500 MHz with the Green Bank Telescope as part of the NANOGrav pulsar timing array. We calibrate the data using Mueller matrix solutions calculated from observations of PSRs B1929+10 and J1022+1001. We discuss the polarization profiles, which can be used to constrain pulsar emission geometry, and present both the first published radio polarization profiles for nine pulsars and the discovery of very low-intensity average profile components (“microcomponents”) in four pulsars. We obtain the Faraday rotation measures for each pulsar and use them to calculate the Galactic magnetic field parallel to the line of sight for different lines of sight through the interstellar medium. We fit for linear and sinusoidal trends in time in the dispersion measure and Galactic magnetic field and detect magnetic field variations with a period of 1 yr in some pulsars, but overall find that the variations in these parameters are more consistent with a stochastic origin.
Keywords
