FAST——脉冲星观测研究的利器

 2016年9月25日落成的中国自行设计建造的500 m口径球面射电望远镜（FAST）是目前全世界最大口径的射电望远镜。在调试期间已成功发现了脉冲星,实现了国内设备发现脉冲星的零突破。脉冲星是宇宙中的一类奇妙天体,是验证强引力场、强磁场和高密度等极端物理环境下物理规律的"天然实验室"。作为脉冲星研究的利器,预计FAST大规模巡天能够大幅提高已知的脉冲星数目。FAST还将在低频引力波探测、脉冲星物理、星际和星系际介质探测、脉冲星时间尺度建立及脉冲星导航等领域取得突破性进展。在上述研究中,国内天文设备取长补短、相互补充,有望实现中国脉冲星观测研究跨越式发展。     

脉冲星发现50年

 脉冲星自1967年发现以来,50年的观测和理论研究取得巨大进展,期间曾2次获颁诺贝尔物理学奖。脉冲星以其高度致密和强引力场堪称宇宙天然实验室,可用来验证爱因斯坦广义相对论及进行引力波探测,推动了天文学与物理学研究的发展。本文简介了脉冲星的发现及其性质,并综述了脉冲星导航以及最近建成的500 m口径球面射电望远镜（FAST）的脉冲星探测研究进展。     

毫秒脉冲星的高能辐射

 根据自恰毫秒脉冲星磁层外隙模型讨论毫秒脉冲星的高能辐射机制.其中X射线由2个热成分和1个幂律成分组成,γ射线由外隙粒子同步-曲率辐射产生.在此基础上,理论计算了11颗X射线波段及其他39颗在射电波段观测到的毫秒脉冲星,所得理论与观测符合较好,表明该模型能较好地解释毫秒脉冲星的高能辐射机制.     

脉冲星衍射式闪烁观测研究进展

介绍脉冲星星际闪烁效应产生的机制,简要描述衍射式闪烁的观测研究方法,并总结了近些年衍射式闪烁观测研究的进展,主要包含使用闪烁效应限制星际介质电子密度涨落谱、估算脉冲星切向速度、分辨脉冲星射电辐射区尺度、获取脉冲星双星轨道参数、搜索脉冲星的非脉冲射电辐射等,以及总结了国内一些射电望远镜对脉冲星闪烁观测研究工作及FAST观测预期.     

X射线脉冲星的理论研究

详细介绍了中子星的吸积以及密近双星的演化。Ｌｉｐｕｎｏｖ等讨论了在密近双星的演化中形成射电脉冲星与黑洞组成的双星的可能性，结论是在大约７００个射电脉冲星中，至少应当发现一个位于脉冲星与黑洞组成的双星系统。     

从阿雷西博到中国天眼射电望远镜：工业革命的接力

 阿雷西博305 m口径射电望远镜在中国天眼（FAST）建成以前，曾经是世界最大的地面天文学装置，它创造了多项世界第一，例如参加阿波罗登月计划，发现首个地外行星，首次发现脉冲星双星系统并间接证实爱因斯坦预言的引力波存在，精确测定水星转动周期，实施雷达精确研究地球电离层的无线电传输特性等。阿雷西博于2020年12月意外倒塌，震惊了全世界。探究其建设背景和意义、取得的主要成就，对比中国大科学工程FAST的特色之处，介绍FAST的创新设计、工程建设方面的特点和科学探测上取得的主要成果，借此窥视中国科技的前进步伐。从科技史角度提出，FAST作为第四次工业革命的产物，预示着一个新时代的来临。     

FAST的进展——科学、技术与设备

随着射电天文学的发展,高灵敏度的大口径射电望远镜成为射电观测的重要设备.我国正在建设中的500 m口径球面射电望远镜(FAST)将成为世界上最大、最灵敏的单口径射电望远镜,它有望在中性氢巡视、脉冲星搜索、国际VLBI网联测及地外生命搜寻等重要前沿领域取得突破.本文介绍了FAST工程概念的提出及望远镜概况,列出了FAST的主要科学目标及早期科学准备,重点叙述了FAST工程在科学、技术与设备方面的最新进展,并对FAST工程的发展做出了展望.     

大型全可动射电望远镜关键技术研究专辑·编者按

<正>射电天文学诞生的近一百年来在天文领域取得了诸多载入科学史册的成就,突出代表是现代天文学"四大发现"——类星体、脉冲星、星际分子、宇宙微波背景辐射. 21世纪,暗物质、暗能量、黑洞、宇宙起源、天体起源、生命起源等前沿研究方面仍存在着亟待解决的重大科学问题.天文学已经进入全电磁波观测时代.随着引力波观测窗口的打开,射电天文在引力波探测、引力波天体物理等方面扮演着至关重要的角色,国内外对建设大型射电天文望远镜充满期待.为了展示并总结我国110 m口径全向可动射电望远镜(QTT)的最新成果,我们特别组织"大型全可动射电望远     

武汉暂现源国际研讨会

<正>2016年4月25~27日,武汉暂现源国际研讨会在华中科技大学召开。包括国外学者9人共65位专家学者等参加了此次会议。本次会议围绕射电和X射线脉冲星,河内与河外射电和X-射线暂现源的最新观测和理论进展,FAST相关技术与早期科学,以及FAST与HXMT的联合观测等方面进行了广泛     

脉冲星单脉冲与闪烁分析软件设计

射电脉冲星天文学中,单脉冲与闪烁研究探求脉冲星辐射机制与星际电离介质属性。这两个领域的研究为五百米口径球面射电望远镜(FAST)的规划内重要科研项目。作为FAST脉冲星数据处理软件平台建设的一部分,本工作运用国际通用PSRFITS折叠模式数据操作软件PSRCHIVE的共享库,设计完成程序,PEM(Pulse Energy Measurer),PDA(Pulse Drifting Analyzer)和PSA(Pulsar Scintillation Analyzer)。这些程序可分别用于单脉冲能量分布,子脉冲漂移和衍射式强闪烁领域的数据分析,将用于FAST开展相关领域的研究。     

Nanosecond radio bursts from strong plasma turbulence in the Crab pulsar

The Crab pulsar was discovered by the occasional exceptionally bright radio pulses it emits, subsequently dubbed 'giant' pulses. Only two other pulsars are known to emit giant pulses. There is no satisfactory explanation for the occurrence of giant pulses, nor is there a complete theory of the pulsar emission mechanism in general. Competing models for the radio emission mechanism can be distinguished by the temporal structure of their coherent emission. Here we report the discovery of isolated, highly polarized, two-nanosecond subpulses within the giant radio pulses from the Crab pulsar. The plasma structures responsible for these emissions must be smaller than one metre in size, making them by far the smallest objects ever detected and resolved outside the Solar System, and the brightest transient radio sources in the sky. Only one of the current models--the collapse of plasma-turbulent wave packets in the pulsar magnetosphere--can account for the nanopulses we observe.     

A test of general relativity from the three-dimensional orbital geometry of a binary pulsar.

Binary pulsars provide an excellent system for testing general relativity because of their intrinsic rotational stability and the precision with which radio observations can be used to determine their orbital dynamics. Measurements of the rate of orbital decay of two pulsars have been shown to be consistent with the emission of gravitational waves as predicted by general relativity, but independent verification was not possible. Such verification can in principle be obtained by determining the orbital inclination in a binary pulsar system using only classical geometrical constraints. This would permit a measurement of the expected retardation of the pulse signal arising from the general relativistic curvature of space-time in the vicinity of the companion object (the 'Shapiro delay'). Here we report high-precision radio observations of the binary millisecond pulsar PSR J0437-4715, which establish the three-dimensional structure of its orbit. We see the Shapiro delay predicted by general relativity, and we determine the mass of the neutron star and its white dwarf companion. The determination of such masses is necessary in order to understand the origin and evolution of neutron stars.     

Evidence for free precession in a pulsar

Pulsars are rotating neutron stars that produce lighthouse-like beams of radio emission from their magnetic poles. The observed pulse of emission enables their rotation rates to be measured with great precision. For some young pulsars, this provides a means of studying the interior structure of neutron stars. Most pulsars have stable pulse shapes, and slow down steadily (for example, see ref. 20). Here we report the discovery of long-term, highly periodic and correlated variations in both the pulse shape and the rate of slow-down of the pulsar PSR B1828-11. The variations are best described as harmonically related sinusoids, with periods of approximately 1,000, 500 and 250 days, probably resulting from precession of the spin axis caused by an asymmetry in the shape of the pulsar. This is difficult to understand theoretically, because torque-free precession of a solitary pulsar should be damped out by the vortices in its superfluid interior.     

引力波的基本场方程与假性能动张量

导出适用各种背景时空的引力波基本场方程,定义了引力波的假性能张量并阐述了它与引力场的赝能动张量的区别,还对射电脉冲双星能否验证“引力辐射”的争论进行了研究。     

Transient pulsed radio emission from a magnetar

Anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs) are slowly rotating neutron stars with very bright and highly variable X-ray emission that are believed to be powered by ultra-strong magnetic fields of >10(14) G, according to the 'magnetar' model. The radio pulsations that have been observed from more than 1,700 neutron stars with weaker magnetic fields have never been detected from any of the dozen known magnetars. The X-ray pulsar XTE J1810-197 was revealed (in 2003) as the first AXP with transient emission when its luminosity increased 100-fold from the quiescent level; a coincident radio source of unknown origin was detected one year later. Here we show that XTE J1810-197 emits bright, narrow, highly linearly polarized radio pulses, observed at every rotation, thereby establishing that magnetars can be radio pulsars. There is no evidence of radio emission before the 2003 X-ray outburst (unlike ordinary pulsars, which emit radio pulses all the time), and the flux varies from day to day. The flux at all radio frequencies is approximately equal--and at >20 GHz XTE J1810-197 is currently the brightest neutron star known. These observations link magnetars to ordinary radio pulsars, rule out alternative accretion models for AXPs, and provide a new window into the coronae of magnetars.     

从宋代“客星”到中国“天眼”中的脉冲星——“李约瑟难题”试答

 研究和分析了中国古代天文学的辉煌成就与当今中国“天眼”--500 m口径球面射电望远镜（FAST）科学目标--脉冲星的关系。针对宋朝天文学家记录的客星与FAST正在进行的脉冲星观测，详述了宋代客星记录在世界科技史上的贡献；介绍了脉冲星发现历史与基本天体物理特征，以及脉冲星作为FAST科学目标的意义。以客星到脉冲星的千年追寻为线索，探索和尝试回答“李约瑟难题”，认为现代科学是人类文明共同体的长期探索结晶，中国在科学早期的发育过程中播撒了创新火种，而西方在文艺复兴运动中不断完善了科学体系，其中东西方科技的交流与传播得益于蒙古帝国在丝绸之路的远征与开拓。     

Nuclear-powered millisecond pulsars and the maximum spin frequency of neutron stars

Millisecond pulsars are neutron stars that are thought to have been spun-up by mass accretion from a stellar companion. It is not known whether there is a natural brake for this process, or if it continues until the centrifugal breakup limit is reached at submillisecond periods. Many neutron stars that are accreting mass from a companion star exhibit thermonuclear X-ray bursts that last tens of seconds, caused by unstable nuclear burning on their surfaces. Millisecond-period brightness oscillations during bursts from ten neutron stars (as distinct from other rapid X-ray variability that is also observed) are thought to measure the stellar spin, but direct proof of a rotational origin has been lacking. Here we report the detection of burst oscillations at the known spin frequency of an accreting millisecond pulsar, and we show that these oscillations always have the same rotational phase. This firmly establishes burst oscillations as nuclear-powered pulsations tracing the spin of accreting neutron stars, corroborating earlier evidence. The distribution of spin frequencies of the 11 nuclear-powered pulsars cuts off well below the breakup frequency for most neutron-star models, supporting theoretical predictions that gravitational radiation losses can limit accretion torques in spinning up millisecond pulsars.