The Green Bank Telescope 350 MHz Drift-scan Survey I: Survey Observations and the Discovery of 13 Pulsars

TL;DR

This paper details a 2007 drift-scan pulsar survey with the Green Bank Telescope at 350 MHz, leading to the discovery of 13 pulsars, including millisecond and recycled pulsars, expanding our understanding of pulsar populations.

Contribution

First detailed report of a large drift-scan survey at 350 MHz with the Green Bank Telescope, discovering 13 pulsars including millisecond and recycled types.

Findings

Discovered 13 pulsars, including 2 millisecond pulsars.

Identified a pulsar in a binary system with a white dwarf or neutron star.

Detected a pulsar solely through its single pulses.

Abstract

Over the summer of 2007, we obtained 1191 hours of `drift-scan' pulsar search observations with the Green Bank Telescope at a radio frequency of 350 MHz. Here we describe the survey setup, search procedure, and the discovery and follow-up timing of thirteen pulsars. Among the new discoveries, one (PSR J1623-0841) was discovered only through its single pulses, two (PSRs J1327-0755 and J1737-0814) are millisecond pulsars, and another (PSR J2222-0137) is a mildly recycled pulsar. PSR J1327-0755 is a 2.7 ms pulsar at a DM of 27.9 pc cm^{-3} in a 8.7 day orbit with a minimum companion mass of 0.22 solar mass. PSR J1737-0814 is a 4.2 ms pulsar at a DM of 55.3 pc cm^{-3} in a 79.3 day orbit with a minimum companion mass of 0.06 solar mass. PSR J2222-0137 is a 32.8 ms pulsar at a very low DM of 3.27 pc cm^{-3} in a 2.4 day orbit with a minimum companion mass of 1.11 solar mass. It is most likely a white dwarf-neutron star system or an unusual low-eccentricity double neutron star system. Ten other pulsars discovered in this survey are reported in the companion paper Lynch et al. 2012.