THE GREEN BANK NORTHERN CELESTIAL CAP PULSAR SURVEY. I. SURVEY DESCRIPTION, DATA ANALYSIS, AND INITIAL RESULTS

We describe an ongoing search for pulsars and dispersed pulses of radio emission, such as those from rotating radio transients (RRATs) and fast radio bursts, at 350 MHz using the Green Bank Telescope. With the Green Bank Ultimate Pulsar Processing Instrument, we record 100 MHz of bandwidth divided into 4096 channels every 81.92 μs. This survey will cover the entire sky visible to the Green Bank Telescope (δ > −40°, or 82% of the sky) and outside of the Galactic Plane will be sensitive enough to detect slow pulsars and low dispersion measure (<30 pc cm−3) millisecond pulsars (MSPs) with a 0.08 duty cycle down to 1.1 mJy. For pulsars with a spectral index of −1.6, we will be 2.5 times more sensitive than previous and ongoing surveys over much of our survey region. Here we describe the survey, the data analysis pipeline, initial discovery parameters for 62 pulsars, and timing solutions for 5 new pulsars. PSR J0214+5222 is an MSP in a long-period (512 days) orbit and has an optical counterpart identified in archival data. PSR J0636+5129 is an MSP in a very short-period (96 minutes) orbit with a very low mass companion (8 MJ). PSR J0645+5158 is an isolated MSP with a timing residual RMS of 500 ns and has been added to pulsar timing array experiments. PSR J1434+7257 is an isolated, intermediate-period pulsar that has been partially recycled. PSR J1816+4510 is an eclipsing MSP in a short-period orbit (8.7 hr) and may have recently completed its spin-up phase.

[1]  D. Kaplan,et al.  SPECTROSCOPY OF THE INNER COMPANION OF THE PULSAR PSR J0337+1715 , 2014, 1402.0407.

[2]  R. Lynch,et al.  A millisecond pulsar in a stellar triple system , 2014, Nature.

[3]  G. Desvignes,et al.  SEARCHING FOR PULSARS USING IMAGE PATTERN RECOGNITION , 2013, 1309.0776.

[4]  D. Lorimer,et al.  The Northern High Time Resolution Universe pulsar survey - I. Setup and initial discoveries , 2013, 1308.0378.

[5]  M. Mclaughlin,et al.  GOALS, STRATEGIES AND FIRST DISCOVERIES OF AO327, THE ARECIBO ALL-SKY 327 MHz DRIFT PULSAR SURVEY , 2013, 1307.8142.

[6]  S. Burke-Spolaor,et al.  A Population of Fast Radio Bursts at Cosmological Distances , 2013, Science.

[7]  S. Ransom,et al.  Swings between rotation and accretion power in a binary millisecond pulsar , 2013, Nature.

[8]  G. Desvignes,et al.  PEACE: Pulsar Evaluation Algorithm for Candidate Extraction - A Software Package for Post-analysis Processing of Pulsar Survey Candidates , 2013, 1305.0447.

[9]  R. Lynch,et al.  A Massive Pulsar in a Compact Relativistic Binary , 2013, Science.

[10]  U. Toronto,et al.  A METAL-RICH LOW-GRAVITY COMPANION TO A MASSIVE MILLISECOND PULSAR , 2013, 1302.2492.

[11]  D. Lorimer,et al.  The pulsar spectral index distribution , 2013, 1302.2053.

[12]  M. Mclaughlin,et al.  DISCOVERY OF THE OPTICAL COUNTERPARTS TO FOUR ENERGETIC FERMI MILLISECOND PULSARS , 2013, 1302.1790.

[13]  I. Cognard,et al.  RADIO DETECTION OF THE FERMI-LAT BLIND SEARCH MILLISECOND PULSAR J1311−3430 , 2012, 1210.6676.

[14]  Kevin Stovall,et al.  THE GREEN BANK TELESCOPE 350 MHz DRIFT-SCAN SURVEY II: DATA ANALYSIS AND THE TIMING OF 10 NEW PULSARS, INCLUDING A RELATIVISTIC BINARY , 2012, 1209.4296.

[15]  R. Lynch,et al.  THE GREEN BANK TELESCOPE 350 MHz DRIFT-SCAN SURVEY. I. SURVEY OBSERVATIONS AND THE DISCOVERY OF 13 PULSARS , 2012, 1209.4293.

[16]  Chongqing,et al.  The Parkes Pulsar Timing Array Project , 2006, Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia.

[17]  D. Thompson,et al.  Binary Millisecond Pulsar Discovery via Gamma-Ray Pulsations , 2012, Science.

[18]  J. Greiner,et al.  PSR J1311−3430: A HEAVYWEIGHT NEUTRON STAR WITH A FLYWEIGHT HELIUM COMPANION , 2012, 1210.6884.

[19]  O. Benvenuto,et al.  EVOLUTIONARY TRAJECTORIES OF ULTRACOMPACT “BLACK WIDOW” PULSARS WITH VERY LOW MASS COMPANIONS , 2012, 1206.2389.

[20]  M. Kramer,et al.  Formation of millisecond pulsars with CO white dwarf companions – II. Accretion, spin-up, true ages and comparison to MSPs with He white dwarf companions , 2012, 1206.1862.

[21]  A. J. Ford,et al.  DISCOVERY OF THE OPTICAL/ULTRAVIOLET/GAMMA-RAY COUNTERPART TO THE ECLIPSING MILLISECOND PULSAR J1816+4510 , 2012, 1205.3699.

[22]  P. Freire,et al.  The relativistic pulsar-white dwarf binary PSR J1738+0333 - II. The most stringent test of scalar-tensor gravity , 2012, 1205.1450.

[23]  G. Nelemans,et al.  Formation of the planet around the millisecond pulsar J1719–1438 , 2012, 1203.2919.

[24]  G. Desvignes,et al.  Discovery of the millisecond pulsar PSR J2043+1711 in a Fermi source with the Nancay Radio Telescope , 2012, 1202.1128.

[25]  S. Ransom,et al.  FIVE NEW MILLISECOND PULSARS FROM A RADIO SURVEY OF 14 UNIDENTIFIED FERMI-LAT GAMMA-RAY SOURCES , 2012, 1201.5160.

[26]  G. Nelemans,et al.  The evolution of ultracompact x-ray binaries , 2011, 1111.5978.

[27]  M. C. Toribio,et al.  LOFAR: The LOw-Frequency ARray , 2013, 1305.3550.

[28]  D. Stinebring,et al.  Gravitational Wave Astronomy Using Pulsars: Massive Black Hole Mergers & the Early Universe , 2009, 0902.2968.

[29]  S. Kulkarni,et al.  Transformation of a Star into a Planet in a Millisecond Pulsar Binary , 2011, Science.

[30]  A. Possenti,et al.  RADIO PULSARS: AN ASTROPHYSICAL KEY TO UNLOCK THE SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE , 2011 .

[31]  J. Leeuwen,et al.  A search for radio pulsations from neutron star companions of four subdwarf B stars , 2011, 1106.2053.

[32]  A. Noutsos,et al.  Observing pulsars and fast transients with LOFAR , 2011, 1104.1577.

[33]  G. Desvignes,et al.  Placing limits on the stochastic gravitational-wave background using European Pulsar Timing Array data , 2011, 1103.0576.

[34]  D. Thompson,et al.  DISCOVERY OF TWO MILLISECOND PULSARS IN FERMI SOURCES WITH THE NANÇAY RADIO TELESCOPE , 2011, 1102.4192.

[35]  P. Bergeron,et al.  AN IMPROVED SPECTROSCOPIC ANALYSIS OF DA WHITE DWARFS FROM THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY DATA RELEASE 4 , 2011, 1102.0056.

[36]  J. Liebert,et al.  A COMPREHENSIVE SPECTROSCOPIC ANALYSIS OF DB WHITE DWARFS , 2011, 1105.5433.

[37]  D. Thompson,et al.  THREE MILLISECOND PULSARS IN FERMI LAT UNASSOCIATED BRIGHT SOURCES , 2010, 1012.2862.

[38]  S. Ransom,et al.  A two-solar-mass neutron star measured using Shapiro delay , 2010, Nature.

[39]  S. Burke-Spolaor,et al.  The High Time Resolution Universe Pulsar Survey - I. System configuration and initial discoveries , 2010, 1006.5744.

[40]  M. Mclaughlin,et al.  Lutz–Kelker bias in pulsar parallax measurements , 2010, 1002.1213.

[41]  Ulrich Heber,et al.  Hot Subdwarf Stars , 2009, 2410.11663.

[42]  R. Lynch,et al.  A Radio Pulsar/X-ray Binary Link , 2009, Science.

[43]  I. Cognard,et al.  An Eccentric Binary Millisecond Pulsar in the Galactic Plane , 2008, Science.

[44]  V. Kaspi,et al.  Magnetar-Like Emission from the Young Pulsar in Kes 75 , 2008, Science.

[45]  G. Rybicki,et al.  Thermal X-Rays from Millisecond Pulsars: Constraining the Fundamental Properties of Neutron Stars , 2008, 0801.4030.

[46]  M. Mclaughlin,et al.  A Bright Millisecond Radio Burst of Extragalactic Origin , 2007, Science.

[47]  S. Ransom,et al.  A 1.4 GHz Arecibo Survey for Pulsars in Globular Clusters , 2007, 0707.1602.

[48]  Jonathan E. Grindlay,et al.  Constraints on Neutron Star Properties from X-Ray Observations of Millisecond Pulsars , 2006, astro-ph/0612791.

[49]  R. N. Manchester,et al.  Tests of General Relativity from Timing the Double Pulsar , 2006, Science.

[50]  S. Ransom,et al.  A Radio Pulsar Spinning at 716 Hz , 2006, Science.

[51]  R. N. Manchester,et al.  Transient radio bursts from rotating neutron stars , 2005, Nature.

[52]  B. Reid,et al.  Arecibo Pulsar Survey Using ALFA. I. Survey Strategy and First Discoveries , 2005, astro-ph/0509732.

[53]  S. Anderson,et al.  The Green Bank Telescope Pulsar Spigot , 2005 .

[54]  D. Kaplan,et al.  Twenty-One Millisecond Pulsars in Terzan 5 Using the Green Bank Telescope , 2005, Science.

[55]  C. Kim,et al.  An increased estimate of the merger rate of double neutron stars from observations of a highly relativistic system , 2003, Nature.

[56]  L. Bildsten,et al.  White Dwarf Donors in Ultracompact Binaries: The Stellar Structure of Finite-Entropy Objects , 2003, astro-ph/0308233.

[57]  R. Drimmel,et al.  A three-dimensional Galactic extinction model , 2003, astro-ph/0307273.

[58]  K. Cheng,et al.  X-ray and gamma-ray emission from millisecond pulsars , 2003 .

[59]  J. Cordes,et al.  NE2001. II. Using Radio Propagation Data to Construct a Model for the Galactic Distribution of Free Electrons , 2003, astro-ph/0301598.

[60]  S. Eikenberry,et al.  Fourier Techniques for Very Long Astrophysical Time-Series Analysis , 2002, astro-ph/0204349.

[61]  Andrew King,et al.  Accretion Power in Astrophysics: Contents , 2002 .

[62]  J. Cordes,et al.  A New Model for the Galactic Distribution of Free Electrons and its Fluctuations , 2002, astro-ph/0207156.

[63]  F. Camilo,et al.  The Parkes multi-beam pulsar survey - I. Observing and data analysis systems, discovery and timing of 100 pulsars , 2001, astro-ph/0106522.

[64]  F. Camilo,et al.  Precision timing measurements of PSR J1012+5307 , 2001, astro-ph/0102309.

[65]  F. Camilo,et al.  Discovery of Short-Period Binary Millisecond Pulsars in Four Globular Clusters , 2000, astro-ph/0010272.

[66]  P. Stetson.  Homogeneous Photometry for Star Clusters and Resolved Galaxies. II. Photometric Standard Stars , 2000, astro-ph/0004144.

[67]  E. Saff,et al.  Distributing many points on a sphere , 1997 .

[68]  E. Bertin,et al.  SExtractor: Software for source extraction , 1996 .

[69]  V. Kaspi,et al.  A Massive Radio Pulsar Binary in the Small Magellanic Cloud , 1994 .

[70]  A. Fruchter,et al.  Two radio pulsars in the globular cluster NGC 6624 , 1994 .

[71]  J. H. Taylor,et al.  Pulsar timing and relativistic gravity , 1992, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A: Physical and Engineering Sciences.

[72]  Simon Johnston,et al.  PSR 1259-63 : a binary radio pulsar with a Be star companion , 1992 .

[73]  D. Frail,et al.  A planetary system around the millisecond pulsar PSR1257 + 12 , 1992, Nature.

[74]  A. Lyne,et al.  Discovery of ten millisecond pulsars in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae , 1991, Nature.

[75]  J. Dickey,et al.  H I in the Galaxy , 1990 .

[76]  J. Weisberg,et al.  Further experimental tests of relativistic gravity using the binary pulsar PSR 1913+16 , 1989 .

[77]  D. Stinebring,et al.  A millisecond pulsar in an eclipsing binary , 1988, Nature.

[78]  G. H. Stokes,et al.  A search for low-luminosity pulsars. , 1985 .

[79]  J. Hills,et al.  The effects of sudden mass loss and a random kick velocity produced in a supernova explosion on the dynamics of a binary star of arbitrary orbital eccentricity - Applications to X-ray binaries and to the binary pulsars , 1983 .

[80]  S. Teukolsky,et al.  Arrival-time analysis for a pulsar in a binary system. , 1976 .

[81]  J. Taylor.  DISCOVERY OF A PULSAR IN A BINARY SYSTEM , 1975 .

[82]  A. Hewish,et al.  Observation of a Rapidly Pulsating Radio Source , 1968, Nature.