RUI: Pulsar Studies of Relativistic Gravitation, the Interstellar Medium, and Radio Emission Processes

该首席研究员在澳大利亚和美国开展射电脉冲星的相对论引力、星际介质和脉冲星发射过程的研究。相对论引力项目包括对双中子星脉冲星B1913+16的定时和剖面测量，以获得由引力辐射发射引起的轨道衰减率、发射束几何形状的信息、还有一个改进的固有运动，这对研究这些天体的演化和星系人口有意义。目前正在对毫秒脉冲星进行进一步的精确计时，以寻找由早期宇宙或双超大质量黑洞发出的低频引力波造成的不规则计时。星际介质的研究包括对银河系内外星系整体磁场结构的研究。其他脉冲星研究将产生额外的脉冲星运动距离，这对校准星系电子密度模型至关重要。这些提供了对所有脉冲星距离的估计，有助于解决各种一般脉冲星群问题。与脉冲星射电发射过程有关的工作包括单脉冲和平均脉冲偏振测量和分析。新的数据将与早期的工作相结合，以努力提高我们对基本发射和磁层传播现象的认识。更广泛的影响。这项工作促进了卡尔顿学院学生的科学教育和培训，使他们能够做真正的研究，而不仅仅是在教科书上阅读。卡尔顿小组与澳大利亚、康奈尔、伯克利和普林斯顿的同事合作，让他们接触到该领域一些最优秀的研究人员和世界上一些最好的天文台的最新技术、程序和想法。项目主任的教学和公众宣传活动都受到了这项工作的启发。该项目加强了卡尔顿作为未来物理学家和天文学家的主要本科生来源之一的记录，同时也教育了卡尔顿内外更广泛的公众。

This Principle Investigator is carrying out radio pulsar investigations of relativistic gravitation, the interstellar medium, and the pulsar emission process in Australia and in the U.S. The relativistic gravitation projects include timing and profile measurements of the double neutron star pulsar B1913+16 to achieve better precision on the orbital decay rate due to gravitational radiation emission, information on the geometry of the emission beam, and a much improved proper motion which has implications for studies of the evolution and galactic population of these objects. Further precise timing of millisecond pulsars is being done in order to search for timing irregularities ascribable to low-frequency gravitational waves emitted in the early Universe or from binary supermassive black holes. Interstellar medium investigations include galactic magnetic field studies of the overall magnetic field structure in the inner and outer Galaxy. Other pulsar studies will yield additional pulsar kinematical distances essential to calibrating galactic electron density models. These provide estimates of the distance to all pulsars contributing to a variety of general pulsar population issues. Work related to the pulsar radio emission process includes single-pulse and average-pulse polarimetry and analyses. The new data will be combined with earlier work in an effort to advance our knowledge of fundamental emission and magnetospheric propagation phenomena.Broader impacts. This work promotes the scientific education and training of the Carleton College students by enabling them to do real research rather than just reading about it in textbooks. The Carleton group collaborates with colleagues in Australia, Cornell, Berkeley, and Princeton, exposing them to the latest techniques, procedures, and ideas from some of the finest investigators in the field and at some of the finest observatories in the world. The project director's teaching and public outreach activities are inspired by this work. The project strengthens Carleton's record as one of the principal undergraduate sources of future physicists and astronomers, while also educating the broader public both within and outside Carleton.