Pulse Profile Variability of PSR J1022+1001 in NANOGrav Data

TL;DR

This study examines pulse profile variability of PSR J1022+1001 in NANOGrav data, revealing significant shape changes across observations and frequencies, and investigates calibration methods and intrinsic pulsar phenomena as potential causes.

Contribution

The paper demonstrates that pulse profile variability persists despite advanced calibration techniques and suggests intrinsic pulsar phenomena as the likely cause.

Findings

Pulse profile varies significantly across observations and frequencies.

Calibration improvements do not reduce variability or improve timing.

Intrinsic pulsar phenomena are favored as the cause of variability.

Abstract

Pulse profile stability is a central assumption of standard pulsar timing methods. Thus, it is important for pulsar timing array experiments such as the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) to account for any pulse profile variability present in their data sets. We show that in the NANOGrav 15-yr data set, the integrated pulse profile of PSR J1022+1001 as seen by the Arecibo radio telescope at 430, 1380, and 2030 MHz varies considerably in its shape from observation to observation. We investigate the possibility that this is due to the "ideal feed assumption" (IFA), on which NANOGrav's routine polarization calibration procedure relies. PSR J1022+1001 is $\sim 90\%$ polarized in one pulse profile component, and also has significant levels of circular polarization. Time-dependent deviations in the feed's polarimetric response (PR) could cause mixing between the intensity I and the other Stokes parameters, leading to the observed variability. We calibrate the PR using a mixture of Measurement Equation Modeling and Measurement Equation Template Matching techniques. The resulting profiles are no less variable than those calibrated using the IFA method, nor do they provide an improvement in the timing quality of this pulsar. We observe the pulse shape in 25-MHz bandwidths to vary consistently across the band, which cannot be explained by interstellar scintillation in combination with profile evolution with frequency. Instead, we favor phenomena intrinsic to the pulsar as the cause.