Reciprocating Magnetic Fields in the Pulsar Wind Observed from the Black Widow Pulsar J1720-0534

We report the radio observations of the eclipsing black widow pulsar J1720-0534, a 3.26 ms pulsar in orbit with a low mass companion of mass 0.029 to 0.034 M⊙. We obtain the phase-connected timing ephemeris and polarization profile of this millisecond pulsar(MSP) using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope(FAST), the Green Bank Telescope(GBT), and the Parkes Telescope. For the first time from such a system, an oscillatory polarization angle change was observed from a particular eclipse egress with partial depolarization, indicating 10-milliGauss-level reciprocating magnetic fields oscillating in a length scale of 5 ×10^(3)km(assuming an orbital inclination angle of 90°) outside the companion's magnetosphere. The dispersion measure variation observed during the ingresses and egresses shows the rapid raising of the electron density in the shock boundary between the companion's magnetosphere and the surrounding pulsar wind. We suggest that the observed oscillatory magnetic fields originate from the pulsar wind outside the companion's magnetosphere.

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.

FAST Observations of an Extremely Active Episode of FRB 20201124A.Ⅳ.Spin Period Search

We report the properties of more than 800 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 on UTC 2021 September 25th-28th in a series of four papers.In this fourth paper of the series,we present a systematic search of the spin period and linear acceleration of the source object from both 996 individual pulse peaks and the dedispersed time series.No credible spin period was found from this data set.We rule out the presence of significant periodicity in the range between 1 ms and 100 s with a pulse duty cycle<0.49±0.08(when the profile is defined by a von-Mises function,not a boxcar function)and linear acceleration up to 300 m s^(-2)in each of the four one-hour observing sessions,and up to 0.6 m s^(-2)in all 4 days.These searches contest theoretical scenarios involving a 1 ms–100 s isolated magnetar/pulsar with surface magnetic field<10^(15)G and a small duty cycle(such as in a polar-cap emission mode)or a pulsar with a companion star or black hole up to 100 M_(⊙)and P_(b)>10 hr.We also perform a periodicity search of the fine structures and identify 53 unrelated millisecond-timescale“periods”in multicomponents with the highest significance of 3.9σ.The“periods”recovered from the fine structures are neither consistent nor harmonically related.Thus they are not likely to come from a spin period.We caution against claiming spin periodicity with significance below~4σwith multi-components from one-off FRBs.We discuss the implications of our results and the possible connections between FRB multi-components and pulsar microstructures.

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.