Evaluating the Prospects of Cyclic Deconvolution across 312 Pulsars

TL;DR

This study evaluates the potential of cyclic deconvolution for 312 pulsars using low-frequency observatories, identifying optimal frequency ranges and the most suitable telescopes for the technique.

Contribution

It assesses the likelihood of achieving cyclic deconvolution across multiple telescopes and frequencies, highlighting uGMRT as the current leader and DSA as a future contender.

Findings

uGMRT is likely the best current instrument for cyclic spectroscopy.

Optimal frequency range for cyclic deconvolution is between 80-300 MHz.

The Crab Pulsar shows high cyclic merit, indicating potential for other fast pulsars.

Abstract

We use the cyclic figure of merit to determine the likelihood of achieving cyclic deconvolution for 312 pulsars with sub-40 ms spin periods across 15 different telescope-observing frequency combinations. We find that the optimal frequency range for achieving cyclic deconvolution for most pulsars is between $\sim$80$-$300 MHz, making low frequency observatories such as uGMRT, LOFAR, and MWA the best-suited instruments for the technique. Moreover, we find that, as quantified by the total number sources with sufficient cyclic merits that are observed within the full deconvolution regime, uGMRT is likely the best current instrument for cyclic spectroscopy among the ten telescopes we considered, with LOFAR being the second best, although our simulations predict that the DSA may become the top instrument once a greater fraction of galactic millisecond pulsars are discovered. The relatively high cyclic merit of the Crab Pulsar in the frequency ranges considered for GBT, MWA, LOFAR, and uGMRT suggests that some faster-spinning canonical pulsars may be able to achieve cyclic deconvolution, and we discuss potential follow-up analyses on other non-recycled pulsars. We conclude by advocating for near real-time cyclic spectroscopy backends to be considered for current and upcoming low frequency telescopes to increase the accessibility of this technique.