Shape and Size of Pulsar Emission Regions via Statistics of Scattering

通过散射统计得出脉冲星发射区域的形状和大小

• 批准号: 1008865
• 负责人: Carl Gwinn
• 金额: $ 26.55万
• 依托单位: University of California-Santa Barbara
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-10-01 至 2016-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1008865&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Shape; Size; Pulsar; Emission; Regions

This project will study the sizes and shapes of pulsar emission regions, using interstellar scattering as a lens. It will derive the sizes and elongations of the emission region of the Vela pulsar as a function of pulse phase, providing images or a short movie over sizes of a few hundred kilometers, and improving understanding of pulsar emission. The project will advance the mathematical description of signals from a scattered source, and should lead to improvements in correlators. The work includes 1) installing a software correlator to study and correct for effects of de-dispersion, digitization, and pulsar gating; 2) improving and extending mathematical models for the intensity and interferometric visibility of small scintillating sources, including the effects of noise; 3) measuring the variation of source size, elongation, and position angle as a function of pulse phase, for the Vela pulsar; and 4) measuring, or at least setting limits on, the sizes of emission regions of older, slower pulsars.This work will form the bulk of a graduate student's thesis, and will include undergraduate physics majors via theses and summer projects. Through a weekend science program, the project will also introduce local high-school students to conversion of sound to electricity and back, and to signal processing by computer to supplement the ear and brain in deciphering sound.

这个项目将研究脉冲星发射区域的大小和形状，使用星际散射作为透镜。它将得出船帆座脉冲星发射区域的大小和长度作为脉冲相位的函数，提供数百公里大小的图像或短片，并提高对脉冲星发射的理解。该项目将推进来自分散源的信号的数学描述，并将导致相关器的改进。工作包括：1)安装软件相关器来研究和校正去色散、数字化和脉冲星门控的影响；2)改进和扩展了小闪烁光源强度和干涉可见性的数学模型，包括噪声的影响；3)测量船帆座脉冲星的源尺寸、长度和位角随脉冲相位的变化；4)测量，或至少限制，较老，较慢脉冲星的发射区域的大小。这项工作将构成研究生论文的大部分，并将通过论文和暑期项目包括本科物理专业。该项目还将通过周末科学活动，向当地高中学生介绍声音与电流的转换，以及通过计算机处理信号，以补充耳朵和大脑的声音识别能力。