Atlas of dynamic spectra of fast radio burst FRB 20201124A

Fast radio bursts(FRBs) are highly dispersed millisecond-duration radio bursts,[1,2]of which the physical origin is still not fully understood. FRB 20201124A is one of the most actively repeating FRBs. In this paper, we present the collection of 1863 burst dynamic spectra of FRB 20201124A measured with the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope(FAST). The current collection, taken from the observation during the FRB active phase from April to June 2021, is the largest burst sample detected for any FRB so far. The standard PSRFITs format is adopted, including dynamic spectra of the burst, and the time information of the dynamic spectra, in addition, mask files help readers to identify the pulse positions are also provided. The dataset is available in Science Data Bank, with the link https://www.doi.org/10.57760/sciencedb.j00113.00076.

Discovery of four gravitational lensing systems by clusters in the SDSS DR6

We report the discovery of 4 strong gravitational lensing systems by visual inspections of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey images of galaxy clusters in Data Release 6 （SDSS DR6）. Two of the four systems show Einstein rings while the others show tangen- tial giant arcs. These arcs or rings have large angular separations （〉 8″） from the bright central galaxies and show bluer color compared with the red cluster galaxies. In addition, we found 5 probable and 4 possible lenses by galaxy clusters.

FAST Observations of an Extremely Active Episode of FRB 20201124A.Ⅱ.Energy Distribution

We report the properties of more than 800 bursts detected from the repeating fast radio burst(FRB)source FRB20201124A with the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope(FAST)during an extremely active episode on UTC 2021 September 25–28 in a series of four papers.In this second paper of the series,we study the energy distribution of 881 bursts(defined as significant signals separated by dips down to the noise level)detected in the first four days of our 19 hr observational campaign spanning 17 days.The event rate initially increased exponentially but the source activity stopped within 24 hr after the 4th day.The detection of 542 bursts in one hour during the fourth day marked the highest event rate detected from one single FRB source so far.The bursts have complex structures in the time-frequency space.We find a double-peak distribution of the waiting time,which can be modeled with two log-normal functions peaking at 51.22 ms and 10.05 s,respectively.Compared with the emission from a previous active episode of the source detected with FAST,the second distribution peak time is smaller,suggesting that this peak is defined by the activity level of the source.We calculate the isotropic energy of the bursts using both a partial bandwidth and a full bandwidth and find that the energy distribution is not significantly changed.We find that an exponentially connected broken-power law function can fit the cumulative burst energy distribution well,with the lower and higher-energy indices being-1.22±0.01 and-4.27±0.23,respectively.Assuming a radio radiative efficiency ofη_(r)=10^(-4),the total isotropic energy of the bursts released during the four days when the source was active is already 3.9×10^(46)erg,exceeding~23%of the available magnetar dipolar magnetic energy.This challenges the magnetar models which invoke an inefficient radio emission(e.g.,synchrotron maser models).

Discovery of Three Large HII Regions in the Galactic Plane

We discovered three large HⅡ regions： G148.8＋2.3, G149.5＋0.0 and G169.9＋2.0 in the Sino-German A6 cm polarization survey of the Galactic plane. They have been identified based on the flat spectral indexes and the strong infrared emission properties.

Braking PSR J1734–3333 with a possible fall-back disk

The very small braking index of PSR J1734-3333, n = 0.9 ± 0.2, chal- lenges the current theories of braking mechanisms in pulsars. We present a possible interpretation that this pulsar is surrounded by a fall-hack disk and braked by it. A modified braking torque is proposed based on the competition between the magnetic energy density of the pulsar and the kinetic energy density of the fall-back disk. With this torque, a self-similar disk can fit all the observed parameters of PSR J1734-3333 with natural initial values of parameters. In this regime, the star will evolve to the re- gion having anomalous X-ray pulsars and soft gamma repeaters in the P -/5 diagram in about 20 000 years and stay there for a very long time. The mass of the disk around PSR J1734-3333 in our model is about 10M similar to the observed mass of the disk around AXP 4U 0142＋61.

Estimating Black Hole Masses of AGNs using Ultraviolet Emission Line Properties

Based on measured broad line region sizes in the reverberation-mapping AGN sample, two new empirical relations are introduced to estimate the central black hole masses of radio-loud high-redshift （z 〉 0.5） AGNs. First, using the archival IUE/HST spectroscopy data at UV band for the reverberation-mapping objects, we obtained two new empirical relations between the BLR size and Mg Ⅱ/C Ⅳ emission line luminosity. Secondly, using the newly determined black hole masses of the reverberation-mapping sample as calibration, we found two new relationships for determining the black hole mass with the full width at half maximum and the luminosity of Mg Ⅱ/C Ⅳ line. We then apply the relations to estimate the black hole masses of the AGNs in the Large Bright Quasar Survey and a sample of radio-loud quasars. For the objects with small radio-loudness, the black hole mass estimated using the RBLR-LMg Ⅱ/C Ⅳ relation is consistent with that from the RBLR-L3000 A/1350 A relation. For radio-loud AGNs, however, the mass estimated from the RBLR-LMg Ⅱ/C Ⅳ relation is systematically lower than that from the continuum luminosity L3000 A/13S0 A Because jets could have significant contributions to the UV/optical continuum luminosity of radio-loud AGNs, we emphasize once again that for radio-loud AGNs, the emission line luminosity may be a better tracer of the ionizing luminosity than the continuum luminosity, so that the relations between the BLR size and UV emission line luminosities should be used to estimate the black hole masses of high redshift radio-loud AGNs.

A digital pulsar backend based on FPGA

A digital pulsar backend based on a Field Programmable Gate Array （FPGA） is developed. It is designed for incoherent de-dispersion of pulsar observations and has a maximum bandwidth of 512MHz. The channel bandwidth is fixed to 1 MHz, and the highest time resolution is 10 p.s. Testing observations were carried out using the Urumqi 25-m telescope administered by Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory and the Kunming 40-m telescope administered by Yunnan Observatories, targeting PSR J0332＋5434 in the L band and PSR J0437-4715 in the S band, respectively. The successful observation of PSR J0437-4715 demonstrates its ability to observe millisecond pulsars.

FAST Observations of an Extremely Active Episode of FRB 20201124A.Ⅲ.Polarimetry

As the third paper in the multiple-part series,we report the statistical properties of radio bursts detected from the repeating fast radio burst(FRB)source FRB 20201124A with the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope during an extremely active episode between the 25th and 28th of September 2021(UT).We focus on the polarization properties of536 bright bursts with S/N>50.We found that the Faraday rotation measures(RMs)monotonically dropped from-579to-605 rad m^(-2)in the 4 day window.The RM values were compatible with the values(-300 to-900 rad m^(-2))reported 4 months ago.However,the RM evolution rate in the current observation window was at least an order of magnitude smaller than the one(~500 rad m^(-2)day^(-1))previously reported during the rapid RM-variation phase,but is still higher than the one(≤1 rad m^(-2)day^(-1))during the later RM no-evolution phase.The bursts of FRB 20201124A were highly polarized with the total degree of polarization(circular plus linear)greater than 90%for more than 90%of all bursts.The distribution of linear polarization position angles(PAs),degree of linear polarization(L/I)and degree of circular polarization(V/I)can be characterized with unimodal distribution functions.During the observation window,the distributions became wider with time,i.e.,with larger scatter,but the centroids of the distribution functions remained nearly constant.For individual bursts,significant PA variations(confidence level 5σ)were observed in 33%of all bursts.The polarization of single pulses seems to follow certain complex trajectories on the Poincarésphere,which may shed light on the radiation mechanism at the source or the plasma properties along the path of FRB propagation.

A compiled catalog of rotation measures of radio point sources

We compiled a catalog of Faraday rotation measures （RMs） for 4553 extragalactic radio point sources published in literature. These RMs were derived from multi-frequency polarization observations. The RM data are compared to those in the NRAO VLA Sky Survey （NVSS） RM catalog. We reveal a systematic uncertainty of about 10.0± 1.5rad m^-2 in the NVSS RM catalog. The Galactic foreground RM is calculated through a weighted averaging method by using the compiled RM catalog together with the NVSS RM catalog, with careful consideration of uncertainties in the RM data. The data from the catalog and the interface for the Galactic foreground RM calculations are publicly available on the webpage： http：//zmtt.bao.ac.cn/RM/.

Ionized gas clouds near the Sagittarius Arm tangent

Radio recombination lines（RRLs） are the best tracers of ionized gas. Simultaneous observations of multi-transitions of RRLs can significantly improve survey sensitivity. We conducted pilot RRL observations near the Sagittarius Arm tangent by using the 65-m Shanghai Tian Ma Radio Telescope（TMRT） equipped with broadband feeds and a digital backend. Six hydrogen RRLs（H96α-H101α）at C band（6289 MHz-7319 MHz） were observed simultaneously toward a sky area of 2°× 1.2° by using on-the-fly mapping mode. These transitions were then stacked together for detection of ionized gas. Star forming complexes G48.6＋0.1 and G49.5-0.3 were detected in the integrated intensity map.We found agreements between our measured centroid velocities and previous results for the 21 known HII regions in the mapped area. For more than 80 cataloged HII region candidates without previous RRL measurements, we obtained new RRL spectra at 30 targeted positions. In addition, we detected 25 new discrete RRL sources with spectral S/N 〉 5σ, and they were not listed in the catalogs of previously known HII regions. The distances for 44 out of these 55 new RRL sources were estimated.

Spectral indices for radio emission of 228 pulsars

We determine spectral indices of 228 pulsars by using Parkes pulsar data observed at 1.4 GHz, among which 200 spectra are newly determined. The indices are distributed in the range from -4.84 to -0.46. Together with known pulsar spectra from literature, we tried to find clues to the pulsar emission process. The wealCcorrelations between the spectral index, the spin-down energy loss rate E and the poten- tial drop in the polar gap Aψ hint that emission properties are related to the particle acceleration process in a pulsar＇s magnetosphere.

Scintillation Arc from FRB 20220912A

We present the interstellar scintillation analysis of fast radio burst(FRB)20220912A during its extremely active episode in 2022using data from the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope(FAST).We detect a scintillation arc in the FRB’s secondary spectrum,which describes the power in terms of the scattered FRB signals’time delay and Doppler shift.The arc indicates that the scintillation is caused by a highly localized region.Our analysis favors a Milky Way origin of the ionized interstellar medium(IISM)for the localized scattering medium but cannot rule out a host galaxy origin.We present our method for detecting the scintillation arc,which can be applied generally to sources with irregularly spaced bursts or pulses.These methods could help shed light on the complex interstellar environment surrounding the FRBs and in our Galaxy.

十年描银河:中德6 cm银道面偏振巡天的发现

射电连续谱偏振观测是探测银河系星际介质性质的有力工具.中德6 cm银道面偏振巡天使用新疆天文台南山站25 m射电望远镜对银道面银经10°~230°、银纬±5°之间的区域进行了总强度和线偏振的巡测.历时10年,完成了世界上地基射电望远镜观测频率最高的银道面射电连续谱偏振巡天,揭示了银道面在6 cm波段的辐射分布和横向磁场取向.该巡天是国产数据描绘的银河系画卷,其较高的观测频率使得消偏振效应小,能够探测来自银河系更远处的偏振辐射.利用这些数据,巡天团队对银河系超新星遗迹、电离氢区、法拉第屏等多种射电目标的研究取得了系列性结果:先后发现了4颗新的银河系超新星遗迹,其中在2011年发布的两个新超新星遗迹G178.2-4.2和G25.1-2.3是国内学者首次使用国内射电望远镜完成的发现工作;对70多个已知超新星遗迹进行了流量密度、偏振和谱的测量,首次探测到超新星遗迹G16.2-2.7、G69.7+1.0、G84.2-0.8、G85.9-0.6、G205.5+0.5和G206.9+2.3的偏振辐射,新的6 cm波段总强度测量还为确定20个超新星遗迹的谱指数提供了关键数据;完成了对巡天范围内可以准确估计6 cm波段流量密度的401个HII区的统计和测量,补充了国际HII区列表中对于延展HII区的数据缺失.在弥漫辐射偏振探测方面,发现了若干在低频射电偏振观测数据中无法显现的、在总强度辐射上没有对应体的高法拉第旋率结构.巡天数据已经在国际学术界产生重要影响,并一直被用于科学研究.