Fast Two-dimensional Positioning Method of Crab Pulsar Based on Multiple Optimization Algorithms

In the two-dimensional positioning method of pulsars, the grid method is used to provide non-sensitive direction and positional estimates. However, the grid method has a high computational load and low accuracy due to the interval of the grid. To improve estimation accuracy and reduce the computational load, we propose a fast twodimensional positioning method for the crab pulsar based on multiple optimization algorithms(FTPCO). The FTPCO uses the Levenberg–Marquardt(LM) algorithm, three-point orientation(TPO) method, particle swarm optimization(PSO) and Newton–Raphson-based optimizer(NRBO) to substitute the grid method. First, to avoid the influence of the non-sensitive direction on positioning, we take an orbital error and the distortion of the pulsar profile as optimization objectives and combine the grid method with the LM algorithm or PSO to search for the non-sensitive direction. Then, on the sensitive plane perpendicular to the non-sensitive direction, the TPO method is proposed to fast search the sensitive direction and sub-sensitive direction. Finally, the NRBO is employed on the sensitive and sub-sensitive directions to achieve two-dimensional positioning of the Crab pulsar. The simulation results show that the computational load of the FTPCO is reduced by 89.4% and the positioning accuracy of the FTPCO is improved by approximately 38% compared with the grid method. The FTPCO has the advantage of high real-time accuracy and does not fall into the local optimum.

Observations of Giant Pulses of the Crab Pulsar

The Crab Pulsar was observed at 1540MHz with the 25m radio telescope at Urumqi with a filterbank de-dispersion backend. A total of 2436 giant pulses with pulse energies larger than 4300 Jy μs were detected in two observing sets. All of these giant pulses are located in the main pulse （MP） and inter pulse （IP） windows of the average profile of the Crab Pulsar. The ratio of the numbers of giant pulses detected in the IP and MP windows is about 0.05. Our results show that, at 1540MHz, the emission in the IP is contributed by giant and normal pulses, while that in the MP is almost dominated by giant pulses. The distribution of energy of the 2436 giant pulses at 1540 MHz can be described by a power-law with index α = 3.13 ± 0.09. The intrinsic threshold of giant pulse energy in the MP window is about 1400Jy μs at 1540MHz.

Pulsed γ-ray properties of Crab pulsar in a retarded dipole with a current-induced magnetic field

Motivated by the Fermi observations of some γ-ray pulsars in which the phases of radio and γ-ray peaks are almost the same, we investigate the outer gap model in a retarded dipole with a current-induced magnetic field and apply it to explain pulsed γ-ray properties of the Crab pulsar. Our results show that the observed γ-ray energy-dependent light curves, which almost align with the radio light curve and phase averaged spectrum for the Crab pulsar, are reproduced well.