Pulsing PrizesBy: Kyle Wenger and Megan Weaver, (Broadway High School, Broadway, VA)

How old might they be?Using the ATNF catalog we have approximated the ages of our pulsars, with the characteristic

ages estimated between 600,000 and 199,800,000 years old. From the information we collected, we created a bar graph in Microsoft

Excel, which shows that the oldest pulsar, J0944-1354, is around 199 million years old and

the youngest pulsar, J1846+0051 is around 600,000 years old.

Where Are They?The furthest pulsar from our Earth is

J1848+0051, which is 4.1 Kpc away and closer to the galactic south pole than us; the closest pulsar J0152-1637and is 0.1 Kpc away (as

displayed in Figure-3).

Conclusion:By analyzing the pulsars we have found, we

have identified eighteen known pulsars. They greatly range in age (from a hundreds of

thousands of years old to hundreds of millions of years old), and are greatly dispersed

throughout the galaxy. We also noticed a trend in our data, the youngest pulsar (J1846+0051) is

also the farthest pulsar from the Earth.

The pulsars that we plotted on the P-Pdot diagram are all considered Normal Pulsars.

By multiplying the period and pulse phase to find the pulse width we have come to the

conclusion that the pulse widths of our pulsars vary greatly. We have found no direct correlation

between the pulse width and the other characteristics of the pulsars.

Acknowledgements:We would like to thank everyone at the

Pulsar Search Collaboratory; and a special thank you to Mr. Kohrs for taking time out of his busy schedule to mentor us.

Results:

After graphing the ages of our known pulsars, we found that the oldest pulsar (J0944-1354), is

around 199.8 million years old and the youngest pulsar (J1846+0051), is around 600,000 years old,

this pulsar is also the farthest from the Earth.

Through plotting our pulsars on the P/P-dot graph, we have come to the conclusion that all of the pulsars we have found are considered Normal

Pulsars.

Method:As we analyzed our known pulsar’s single and prepfold plots, we organized the graphs into groups based on Pulsar Name, then used the

DM checker to determine their distance from the sun. We then looked up the various coordinates

in the ATNF catalog, using the data listed to ascertain the provided period (P0), P-dot (P1), galactic latitude, galactic longitude, and the

distance in Kpc.

Using the equation T= P/2*P1, we calculated the characteristic ages of the known pulsars, from which we created a bar graph using Microsoft

Excel. While in Excel, we produced a bar graph to compare the distance of the pulsars to our

Earth.

We also placed our pulsars, using the P0 and P1, onto a P-dot plot in order to determine the type

of pulsars that we had found.

To find the pulse width, we multiplied P0 (period) of the pulsar and the pulse phase. We found the pulse phase by measuring the base of the pulse

peaks of the pulsars within pointings.

Figure 2- This graph represents the characteristic age of our pulsars. The X-Axis is measured in millions of years, and the Y-Axis represents each

individual pulsar we have identified.

Figure 3- By graphing our pulsars on the P/P-dot diagram, we have identified the type of pulsars we found. 2

What types are they?Using the P/P-dot diagram, we used the P0 and

P1 to plot our pulsars- successfully creating Figure-1. We concluded from the graph that J1052-1637, J1944-1750, J1651-1709, J0820-

1350, and J2346-0609 are common pulsars of a normal characteristic age. With Figure-1 we that

assessed J0944-1354 and J1946+1805 are the closest to the graveyard.

The pulsars J0944-1354 and J0108-1431 (shown in Figure-3) are the oldest pulsars we have

found, and will because of that will be the first to stop radiating radio pulses.

Figure 4- Taking the distance in Kpc provided in the ATNF, we made a bar graph comparing the distance of each pulsar from our Sun.

References:1 Lorimer, Duncan Ross, and Michael Kramer.

Handbook of Pulsar Astronomy. New York: Cambridge UP, 2005. Print.

2 “The Milky Way Galaxy Annotated.” Fine Art America. Web. 09 May 2012.

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/the-milky-way-galaxy-annotated-stocktrek-images.html

J0152-1637J0944-1354J1944-1750J1651-1709J0820-1350J1720-1633J1650-1654J2048-1616J1705-1906J1703-1846J1711-1509J1854-1421J1743-1351J1846+0051J0108-1431J1837-1837J1709-1640J1635-1511

0.0 25.0 50.0 75.0 100.0 125.0 150.0 175.0 200.0

10.2

199.6

13.5

5.1

9.3

4.3

8.7

2.8

1.1

7.4

12.5

4.4

13.5

0.6

166.2

1.8

1.6

80.6

Pulsars Age

Introduction:For this poster, we analyzed the data compiled

from our pointings, successfully identifying eighteen known pulsars. We identified their distances from the sun, what type of pulsars

we found, the pulse width and their characteristic ages.

Pulsars are dense neutron stars which give off radio frequency signals, which we observe as radio pulses. They weigh more than our sun and produce radio beams that sweep across

the sky like the light from a lighthouse. We can collect and convert these signals into data using high-powered radio telescopes and

specialized software.

J015

2-163

7

J165

1-170

9

J194

4-175

0

J165

0-165

4

J170

5-190

6

J170

9-164

0

J172

0-163

3

J170

3-184

6

J204

8-161

6

J163

5-151

1

J171

1-150

9

J082

0-135

0

J094

4-135

4

J174

3-135

1

J185

4-155

7

J184

6+00

51

J183

7-183

7

J010

8-143

10

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

Distance from Earth (kpc)

Pulsar Name

Dist

ance

from

Ear

th (k

pc)

Pulse Width:

We analyzed the pulse width of our pulsars by multiplying period and pulse phase. The

pulse widths of the pulsars are between 0.00434 and 0.03714 seconds; Pulsar

J0820-1350 has the greatest pulse width (0.03714) and Pulsar J1846+0052 has the

smallest pulse width (0.00434).

Figure-1 indicates the pulse width of the pulsars we have found, the pulse widths vary greatly between 0.00434 and 0.03714

0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20 1.40 1.60 1.80 2.00 2.200

0.005

0.01

0.015

0.02

0.025

0.03

0.035

0.04

f(x) = 0.00981583196117878 x + 0.00951997794484243R² = 0.183917085472379

Pulse Width (s)

Pulse Width (s)

Perio

d (s

)