A polarization census of bright pulsars using the Ultra-Wideband Receiver on the Parkes radio telescope

TL;DR

This study provides detailed polarization profiles of 40 bright pulsars across a wide frequency range, revealing new insights into pulsar emission and interstellar medium effects, with data publicly accessible.

Contribution

It offers the first comprehensive polarization survey of bright pulsars using the UWL receiver, highlighting frequency-dependent polarization trends and interstellar scattering effects.

Findings

Decreasing linear polarization with frequency

Increasing circular polarization with frequency

Detection of Faraday dispersion due to scattering

Abstract

We present high signal-to-noise, full polarization pulse profiles for 40 bright, 'slowly'-rotating (non-recycled) pulsars using the new Ultra-Wideband Low-frequency (UWL; 704-4032 MHz) receiver on the Parkes radio telescope. We obtain updated and accurate interstellar medium parameters towards these pulsars (dispersion measures and Faraday rotation measures), and reveal Faraday dispersion towards PSR J1721-3532 caused by interstellar scattering. We find general trends in the pulse profiles including decreasing fractional linear polarization and increasing degree of circular polarization with increasing frequency, consistent with previous studies, while also revealing new features and frequency evolution. This demonstrates results that can be obtained using UWL monitoring observations of slow pulsars, which are valuable for improving our understanding of pulsar emission and the intervening interstellar medium. The calibrated data products are publicly available.