Pulse Morphology of the Galactic Center Magnetar PSR J1745-2900

TL;DR

This study presents detailed radio observations of the Galactic Center magnetar PSR J1745-2900, revealing unique pulse behaviors, spectral properties, and variability, with implications for understanding magnetar emission mechanisms.

Contribution

The paper provides the first observation of frequency structure in single pulses from a radio magnetar and analyzes pulse broadening, spectral index variability, and emission component characteristics.

Findings

Magnetar exhibits a steep spectral index of -1.86 at 8.4 GHz.

Single pulses include giant pulses and multiple emission components.

Pulse broadening timescale is ~6.9 ms at 8.4 GHz, highly variable.

Abstract

We present results from observations of the Galactic Center magnetar, PSR J1745-2900, at 2.3 and 8.4 GHz with the NASA Deep Space Network 70 m antenna, DSS-43. We study the magnetar's radio profile shape, flux density, radio spectrum, and single pulse behavior over a ~1 year period between MJDs 57233 and 57621. In particular, the magnetar exhibits a significantly negative average spectral index of $\langle\alpha\rangle$ = -1.86 $\pm$ 0.02 when the 8.4 GHz profile is single-peaked, which flattens considerably when the profile is double-peaked. We have carried out an analysis of single pulses at 8.4 GHz on MJD 57479 and find that giant pulses and pulses with multiple emission components are emitted during a significant number of rotations. The resulting single pulse flux density distribution is incompatible with a log-normal distribution. The typical pulse width of the components is ~1.8 ms, and the prevailing delay time between successive components is ~7.7 ms. Many of the single pulse emission components show significant frequency structure over bandwidths of ~100 MHz, which we believe is the first observation of such behavior from a radio magnetar. We report a characteristic single pulse broadening timescale of $\langle\tau_{d}\rangle$ = 6.9 $\pm$ 0.2 ms at 8.4 GHz. We find that the pulse broadening is highly variable between emission components and cannot be explained by a thin scattering screen at distances $\gtrsim$ 1 kpc. We discuss possible intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms for the magnetar's emission and compare our results to other magnetars, high magnetic field pulsars, and fast radio bursts.