Study of Four nulling pulsars with FAST

TL;DR

This study uses FAST to analyze four nulling pulsars, revealing diverse emission behaviors, confirming some previous findings, and demonstrating FAST's sensitivity to subtle pulsar emission states.

Contribution

It provides new observational insights into pulsar nulling phenomena and showcases FAST's capability to detect complex emission variability.

Findings

PSR J1649+2533 shows mode changing, not subpulse drifting.

PSR J1752+2359 exhibits persistent low-level emission with occasional bright pulses.

PSR J1916+1023 exhibits nulling and subpulse drifting without interaction.

Abstract

We present an analysis of 4 nulling pulsars with the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST). For PSR J1649+2533, our results suggest mode changing rather than subpulse drifting as previously reported at lower frequencies. For PSR J1752+2359, we confirm its quasi-periodic switching between distinct emission states, but further show that the so-called "quasi-null" or "RRAT-like" state actually consists of persistent low-level emission superposed with occasional bright pulses. For PSR J1819+1305, our data confirm the modulation reported earlier, while additional weaker features are also seen. For PSR J1916+1023, we detect both nulling and subpulse drifting, but find no clear evidence of direct interaction between them. These results provide new insights into the diverse manifestations of pulsar nulling, highlight the capability of FAST to detect subtle emission states, and add to the growing body of work on pulsar emission variability.