A Rare Millisecond Pulsar with Cross-Pole Emission: Single-Pulse Insights from PSR J1857+0943

TL;DR

This study uses FAST to analyze single-pulse behavior in the millisecond pulsar PSR J1857+0943, revealing complex emission regions and challenging traditional models of pulsar magnetospheres.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed single-pulse analysis of PSR J1857+0943, showing that main pulse and interpulse emissions may originate from the same magnetic pole, contrary to previous assumptions.

Findings

Distinct single pulse fluctuation behavior identified.

Evidence suggests main pulse component C3 shares origin with interpulse.

Measured jitter of 78 ± 3 ns at 1.25 GHz.

Abstract

Studies of subpulse variability in millisecond pulsars (MSPs) offer important constraints on their emission physics. Using the high sensitivity of FAST, we present the first identification of distinct single pulse fluctuation behaviour in PSR J1857+0943. We find that the third component(MP\_C3) of the main pulse may originate from a different region than the other two main-pulse components and may instead share a common origin with the interpulse. This conclusion is supported by four observational evidence as follows: First, the LRCCF shows a clear anticorrelation between MP\_C3 and the interpulse. Second, the single-pulse polarization at the main-pulse longitude reveals obvious component mixing. Third, the modulation period of the interpulse components is roughly twice that of MP\_C3. Fourth, the reduced modulation index in MP\_C3 suggests possible mixing of emission from different regions. The interpretation in this letter contrasts with the usual assumption that the main pulse and interpulse originate from opposite magnetic poles. Hence, PSR J1857+0943 provides a rare laboratory for probing component-dependent plasma behaviour in an MSP magnetosphere. Our results offer direct evidence that the main pulse can include emission associated with more than one magnetic pole and highlight the importance of single-pulse diagnostics for understanding the geometry and dynamics of pulsars with interpulse emission. In addition, we analyse the jitter properties of this pulsar and measure a one-hour jitter of $\sigma_{J,1\rm h} = 78 \pm 3~\mathrm{ns}$ at 1.25 GHz, consistent with previous studies.