Pushchino multibeam pulsar search -- II. Long-term variability of RRATs

TL;DR

This study analyzes long-term variability in pulses from 16 RRATs over 4-5.5 years, revealing significant changes in pulse activity, amplitude, and potential interplanetary scintillation effects.

Contribution

It provides the first long-term observational analysis of RRAT pulse variability, highlighting the influence of interplanetary scintillation on observed pulse patterns.

Findings

Pulse activity varies over months to years.

Annual and semi-annual variations suggest interplanetary scintillation influence.

Longer observation sessions reduce the likelihood of missing pulses.

Abstract

Pulses from 16 previously known rotating radio transients (RRAT) have been searched at the 110 MHz daily monitor program for 4 to 5.5 years by using the Large-Phased-Array (LPA) at Pushchino. The total number of pulses detected in such a long observation interval is only 90 pulses for RRAT J0640+07 or is as high as 10,751 pulses for RRAT J0302+22. The number and amplitude of pulses varies at a time-scales from six to twenty months for RRATs J1336+33, J1404+11, J1848+15, J2051+12, J2105+22, and the pulse number can increase by one or two orders of magnitude in active phases. The long-term trends are found for RRATs J0139+33 and J0302+22, showing a 2-3 times increase in detected pulse number over 1,959 days. Some RRATs show the annual variations on both pulse number and pulse amplitude. It is hard to explain all these variation time scales by refractive scintillation on the interstellar medium. The annual and semi-annual variations are likely caused by scintillations of the inhomogeneous interplanetary plasma. Our data show that the number of observational sessions with no pulse detection over the threshold decreases exponentially with the length of pulse silence.