Individual pulse emission from the diffuse drifter PSR J1401$-$6357 using the ultrawideband receiver on the Parkes radio telescope

TL;DR

This paper presents a detailed single pulse analysis of pulsar J1401$-$6357, revealing nulling, subpulse drifting, and frequency evolution, with implications for understanding pulsar magnetospheric processes.

Contribution

It reports the first detection of temporal-dependent subpulse drifting in this pulsar and confirms that nulling and drifting are frequency-independent phenomena.

Findings

Nulling fraction exceeds 2% across all frequencies.

First observation of temporal-dependent subpulse drifting in this pulsar.

Drifting sense appears to change during observation.

Abstract

In this study, we report on a detailed single pulse analysis of the radio emission from the pulsar J1401$-$6357 (B1358$-$63) based on data observed with the ultrawideband low-frequency receiver on the Parkes radio telescope. In addition to a weak leading component, the integrated pulse profile features a single-humped structure with a slight asymmetry. The frequency evolution of the pulse profile is studied. Well-defined nulls, with an estimated nulling fraction greater than 2\%, are present across the whole frequency band. No emission is detected with significance above 3$\sigma$ in the average pulse profile integrated over all null pulses. Using fluctuation spectral analysis, we reveal the existence of temporal-dependent subpulse drifting in this pulsar for the first time. A clear double-peaked feature is present at exactly the alias border across the whole frequency band, which suggests that the apparent drift sense changes during the observation. Our observations provide further confirmation that the phenomena of pulse nulling and subpulse drifting are independent of observing frequency, which suggest that they invoke changes on the global magnetospheric scale.