Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

8-2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Physics

First Advisor

Dr. Teviet Creighton

Second Advisor

Dr. Volker Quetshcke

Third Advisor

Dr. Soma Mukherjee

Abstract

Radio pulsars are fascinating celestial objects known to display both periodic and transient behavior. Pulsars are characterized by narrow electromagnetic radiation beams which restrict the number of pulsars visible from Earth due to the necessary alignment of the radiation beam across an observer’s line of sight. Pulsars are useful tools for a broad range of applications and provide important information about the process of stellar evolution, tests for relativistic theories of gravity and the search for low-frequency gravitational waves. Over 2,500 pulsars have been observed since their initial discovery in 1967 but the search for these objects is continuously warranted. Most pulsar discoveries rely on high time resolution and large collecting area telescopes, and long "on-sky" observations. In this thesis, I present results from the LWA1 Northern Celestial Cap (LNCC) pulsar survey using the Long Wavelength Array Telescope in New Mexico and discuss the challenges and opportunities. The LNCC survey is the first part of the LWA1 all sky pulsar/radio transient survey and it is focused on the least explored region of the sky: the northern celestial pole with focus on pulsars. The LNCC is one of the first large-scale pulsar surveys at low frequencies using 30 MHz to 62 MHz. Each of 320 positions in the sky have been tracked using a single beam for one hour per position. Using a pipeline that I co-developed, I processed some of the data using LoneStar5, one of the supercomputers at the Texas Advanced Computing Center. Known pulsars redetected are part of the LWA1 Pulsar Archive and are listed in this thesis.

Comments

Copyright 2020 Keeisi A. Caballero Valdez. All Rights Reserved.

https://go.openathens.net/redirector/utrgv.edu?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/searching-pulsars-using-long-wavelength-array/docview/2468598116/se-2?accountid=7119

Download

Included in

Physics Commons

Share

COinS