Temporal Variations in Pulsar Spectro-Polarimetry: Findings from millisecond pulsar J2144-5237 using Parkes UWL receiver

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Authors: Rahul Sharan, Bhaswati Bhattacharyya, S. Johnston, P. Weltevrede, Jayanta Roy
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Abstract

While the temporal variations of the spectro-polarimetric nature of pulsars remains unexplored, this investigation offers significant potential for uncovering key insights into pulsar emission mechanisms, magnetic field geometry, and propagation effects within the magnetosphere. We developed a package for investigating time-varying spectral behavior for full Stokes parameters and demonstrate it on a millisecond pulsar (MSP) J2144-5237 in a binary system (orbital period ~10 days) using the Parkes UWL receiver. In this study we report rotation measure (RM) variation with orbital phase. We find that the temporal variations in the spectra of Stokes I, Q, and V are generally correlated throughout the orbit, while Stokes U exhibits intervals of both correlation and anticorrelation with Stokes I, depending on the orbital phase. We also provide a Poincare sphere representation of the polarization properties of J2144-5237, demonstrating a systematic temporal change of Poincare sphere location for the main component with orbital phase. To our knowledge, this is the first investigation of time-varying properties of the spectro-polarimetric nature of any pulsars or MSPs. Extending this study to probe the spectro-temporal nature of full Stokes data on a larger sample of MSPs or pulsars has the potential to provide vital information on emission mechanisms inside the magnetosphere, interstellar propagation effects, and binary interactions.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations Radio Astronomy Observations and Technology

Publication details

Journal / source
arXiv (Cornell University)
Publication date
8 January 2026
Document type
Preprint