The NANOGrav 11-Year Data Set: Arecibo Observatory Polarimetry And Pulse Microcomponents

TL;DR

This paper presents highly sensitive polarization pulse profiles for 28 pulsars, revealing microcomponents and analyzing their impact on pulsar timing, with detailed rotation measures and time-variable polarimetric responses of the Arecibo Observatory.

Contribution

First detection of microcomponents in PSRs B1937+21, J1713+0747, and J2234+0944, and characterization of Arecibo's polarimetric response variability over time.

Findings

Microcomponents detected in three pulsars for the first time.

Galactic magnetic fields from rotation measures align with current models.

Significant time variability in Arecibo's polarimetric responses.

Abstract

We present the polarization pulse profiles for 28 pulsars observed with the Arecibo Observatory by the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) timing project at 2.1 GHz, 1.4 GHz, and 430 MHz. These profiles represent some of the most sensitive polarimetric millisecond pulsar profiles to date, revealing the existence of microcomponents (that is, pulse components with peak intensities much lower than the total pulse peak intensity). Although microcomponents have been detected in some pulsars previously, we present microcomponents for PSRs B1937+21, J1713+0747, and J2234+0944 for the first time. These microcomponents can have an impact on pulsar timing, geometry, and flux density determination. We present rotation measures for all 28 pulsars, determined independently at different observation frequencies and epochs, and find the Galactic magnetic fields derived from these rotation measures to be consistent with current models. These polarization profiles were made using measurement equation template matching, which allows us to generate the polarimetric response of the Arecibo Observatory on an epoch-by-epoch basis. We use this method to describe its time variability, and find that the polarimetric responses of the Arecibo Observatory's 1.4 and 2.1 GHz receivers vary significantly with time.