アイテム詳細

要旨

Pulsar timing is a powerful tool that, by accounting for every rotation of a
pulsar, precisely measures the spin frequency, spin frequency derivatives,
astrometric position, binary parameters when applicable, properties of the ISM,
and potentially general relativistic effects. Typically, this process demands
fairly stringent scheduling requirements for monitoring observations as well as
deep domain knowledge to "phase connect" the timing data. We present an
algorithm that automates the pulsar timing process for binary pulsars, whose
timing solutions have an additional level of complexity, although the algorithm
works for isolated pulsars as well. Using the statistical F-test and the
quadratic dependence of the reduced $\chi ^2$ near a minimum, the global
rotation count of a pulsar can be determined efficiently and systematically. We
have used our algorithm to establish timing solutions for two newly discovered
binary pulsars, PSRs J1748$-$2446aq and J1748$-$2446at, in the globular cluster
Terzan 5, using $\sim$70 Green Bank Telescope observations from the last 13
years.