Deconvolving Pulsar Signals with Cyclic Spectroscopy: A Systematic Evaluation. (arXiv:2008.10562v4 [astro-ph.HE] UPDATED)
<a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Dolch_T/0/1/0/all/0/1">Timothy Dolch</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Stinebring_D/0/1/0/all/0/1">Daniel R. Stinebring</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Jones_G/0/1/0/all/0/1">Glenn Jones</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Zhu_H/0/1/0/all/0/1">Hengrui Zhu</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Lynch_R/0/1/0/all/0/1">Ryan S. Lynch</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Cohen_T/0/1/0/all/0/1">Tyler Cohen</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Demorest_P/0/1/0/all/0/1">Paul B. Demorest</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Lam_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">Michael T. Lam</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Levin_L/0/1/0/all/0/1">Lina Levin</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+McLaughlin_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">Maura A. McLaughlin</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Palliyaguru_N/0/1/0/all/0/1">Nipuni T. Palliyaguru</a>
Radio pulsar signals are significantly perturbed by their propagation through
the ionized interstellar medium. In addition to the frequency-dependent pulse
times of arrival due to dispersion, pulse shapes are also distorted and
shifted, having been scattered by the inhomogeneous interstellar plasma,
affecting pulse arrival times. Understanding the degree to which scattering
affects pulsar timing is important for gravitational wave detection with pulsar
timing arrays (PTAs), which depend on the reliability of pulsars as stable
clocks with an uncertainty of ~100ns or less over ~10yr or more. Scattering can
be described as a convolution of the intrinsic pulse shape with an impulse
response function representing the effects of multipath propagation. In
previous studies, the technique of cyclic spectroscopy has been applied to
pulsar signals to deconvolve the effects of scattering from the original
emitted signals. We present an analysis of simulated data to test the quality
of deconvolution using cyclic spectroscopy over a range of parameters
characterizing interstellar scattering and pulsar signal-to-noise ratio. We
show that cyclic spectroscopy is most effective for high-S/N and/or highly
scattered pulsars. We conclude that cyclic spectroscopy could play an important
role in scattering correction to distant populations of highly scattered
pulsars not currently included in PTAs. For future telescopes and for current
instruments such as the Green Bank Telescope upgraded with the ultrawide
bandwidth (UWB) receiver, cyclic spectroscopy could potentially double the
number of PTA-quality pulsars.
Radio pulsar signals are significantly perturbed by their propagation through
the ionized interstellar medium. In addition to the frequency-dependent pulse
times of arrival due to dispersion, pulse shapes are also distorted and
shifted, having been scattered by the inhomogeneous interstellar plasma,
affecting pulse arrival times. Understanding the degree to which scattering
affects pulsar timing is important for gravitational wave detection with pulsar
timing arrays (PTAs), which depend on the reliability of pulsars as stable
clocks with an uncertainty of ~100ns or less over ~10yr or more. Scattering can
be described as a convolution of the intrinsic pulse shape with an impulse
response function representing the effects of multipath propagation. In
previous studies, the technique of cyclic spectroscopy has been applied to
pulsar signals to deconvolve the effects of scattering from the original
emitted signals. We present an analysis of simulated data to test the quality
of deconvolution using cyclic spectroscopy over a range of parameters
characterizing interstellar scattering and pulsar signal-to-noise ratio. We
show that cyclic spectroscopy is most effective for high-S/N and/or highly
scattered pulsars. We conclude that cyclic spectroscopy could play an important
role in scattering correction to distant populations of highly scattered
pulsars not currently included in PTAs. For future telescopes and for current
instruments such as the Green Bank Telescope upgraded with the ultrawide
bandwidth (UWB) receiver, cyclic spectroscopy could potentially double the
number of PTA-quality pulsars.
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