Single pulse analysis of PSR B1133+16 at 8.35 GHz and carousel circulation time

TL;DR

This study analyzed 6000 high-resolution single pulses of PSR B1133+16 at 8.35 GHz, revealing a carousel circulation time of approximately 30 pulsar periods through fluctuation spectral analysis.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed high-frequency single pulse analysis of PSR B1133+16, identifying the carousel circulation time and pseudo-null periodicities, linking radio emission modulation to subbeam carousel models.

Findings

Identified a low frequency modulation feature at ~0.033 P1^{-1}

Estimated the carousel circulation time as ~30 P1

Detected periodic pseudo-nulls at P4 ≈ 28.44 P1

Abstract

A successful attempt was made to analyse about 6000 single pulses of PSR B1133+16 obtained with the 100-meter Effelsberg radio-telescope. The high resolution (60 micro-seconds) data were taken at a frequency of 8.35 GHz with a bandwidth of 1.1 GHz. In order to examine the pulse-to-pulse intensity modulations, we performed both the longitude- and the harmonic-resolved fluctuation spectral analysis. We identified the low frequency feature associated with an amplitude modulation at f4 ~ 0.033 P1^(-1), which can be interpreted as the circulation time P4 ~ 30 P1 of the underlying subbeam carousel model. Despite an erratic nature of this pulsar, we also found an evidence of periodic pseudo-nulls with P4 = 28.44 P1. This is exactly the value at which Herfindal & Rankin found periodic pseudo-nulls in their 327 MHz data. We thus believe that this is the actual carousel circulation time in PSR B1133+16, particularly during orderly circulation.