학술논문
The MeerKAT Telescope as a Pulsar Facility: System verification and early science results from MeerTime
Document Type
Working Paper
Author
Bailes, M.; Jameson, A.; Abbate, F.; Barr, E. D.; Bhat, N. D. R.; Bondonneau, L.; Burgay, M.; Buchner, S. J.; Camilo, F.; Champion, D. J.; Cognard, I.; Demorest, P. B.; Freire, P. C. C.; Gautam, T.; Geyer, M.; Griessmeier, J. M.; Guillemot, L.; Hu, H.; Jankowski, F.; Johnston, S.; Karastergiou, A.; Karuppusamy, R.; Kaur, D.; Keith, M. J.; Kramer, M.; van Leeuwen, J.; Lower, M. E.; Maan, Y.; McLaughlin, M. A.; Meyers, B. W.; Osłowski, S.; Oswald, L. S.; Parthasarathy, A.; Pennucci, T.; Posselt, B.; Possenti, A.; Ransom, S. M.; Reardon, D. J.; Ridolfi, A.; Schollar, C. T. G.; Serylak, M.; Shaifullah, G.; Shamohammadi, M.; Shannon, R. M.; Sobey, C.; Song, X.; Spiewak, R.; Stairs, I. H.; Stappers, B. W.; van Straten, W.; Szary, A.; Theureau, G.; Krishnan, V. Venkatraman; Weltevrede, P.; Wex, N.; Abbott, T. D.; Adams, G. B.; Burger, J. P.; Gamatham, R. R. G.; Gouws, M.; Horn, D. M.; Hugo, B.; Joubert, A. F.; Manley, J. R.; McAlpine, K.; Passmoor, S. S.; Peens-Hough, A.; Ramudzuli, Z. R.; Rust, A.; Salie, S.; Schwardt, L. C.; Siebrits, R.; Van Tonder, G.; Van Tonder, V.; Welz, M. G.
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Abstract
We describe system verification tests and early science results from the pulsar processor (PTUSE) developed for the newly-commissioned 64-dish SARAO MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa. MeerKAT is a high-gain (~2.8 K/Jy) low-system temperature (~18 K at 20cm) radio array that currently operates from 580-1670 MHz and can produce tied-array beams suitable for pulsar observations. This paper presents results from the MeerTime Large Survey Project and commissioning tests with PTUSE. Highlights include observations of the double pulsar J0737-3039A, pulse profiles from 34 millisecond pulsars from a single 2.5h observation of the Globular cluster Terzan 5, the rotation measure of Ter5O, a 420-sigma giant pulse from the Large Magellanic Cloud pulsar PSR J0540-6919, and nulling identified in the slow pulsar PSR J0633-2015. One of the key design specifications for MeerKAT was absolute timing errors of less than 5 ns using their novel precise time system. Our timing of two bright millisecond pulsars confirm that MeerKAT delivers exceptional timing. PSR J2241-5236 exhibits a jitter limit of <4 ns per hour whilst timing of PSR J1909-3744 over almost 11 months yields an rms residual of 66 ns with only 4 min integrations. Our results confirm that the MeerKAT is an exceptional pulsar telescope. The array can be split into four separate sub-arrays to time over 1000 pulsars per day and the future deployment of S-band (1750-3500 MHz) receivers will further enhance its capabilities.
Comment: 20 pages, 16 Figures, 4 Tables, accepted for publication in PASA
Comment: 20 pages, 16 Figures, 4 Tables, accepted for publication in PASA