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Transient radio bursts from rotating neutron stars

Nature volume 439, pages 817–820 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

The radio sky is relatively unexplored for transient signals1, although the potential of radio-transient searches is high. This was demonstrated recently by the discovery of a previously unknown type of source2,3, varying on timescales of minutes to hours. Here we report a search for radio sources that vary on much shorter timescales. We found eleven objects characterized by single, dispersed bursts having durations between 2 and 30 ms. The average time intervals between bursts range from 4 min to 3 h with radio emission typically detectable for <1 s per day. From an analysis of the burst arrival times, we have identified periodicities in the range 0.4–7 s for ten of the eleven sources, suggesting origins in rotating neutron stars. Despite the small number of sources detected at present, their ephemeral nature implies a total Galactic population significantly exceeding that of the regularly pulsing radio pulsars. Five of the ten sources have periods >4 s, and the rate of change of the pulse period has been measured for three of them; for one source, we have inferred a high magnetic field strength of 5 × 1013 G. This suggests that the new population is related to other classes of isolated neutron stars observed at X-ray and γ-ray wavelengths4.

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Figure 1: The observational signatures of the new radio transient sources.
Figure 2: The rotational properties of neutron stars summarized in a P – Ṗ diagram.

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Acknowledgements

The Parkes radio telescope is part of the Australia Telescope, which is funded by the Commonwealth of Australia for operation as a National Facility managed by CSIRO. A.P. and N.D'A. acknowledge financial support from the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MIUR). F.C. is supported by NSF, NASA and NRAO. D.R.L. is a University Research Fellow funded by the Royal Society. I.H.S. holds an NSERC UFA and is supported by a discovery grant.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jodrell Bank Observatory, University of Manchester, Cheshire, SK11 9DL, Macclesfield, UK

    M. A. McLaughlin, A. G. Lyne, D. R. Lorimer, M. Kramer, A. J. Faulkner & J. T. O'Brien

  2. Australia Telescope National Facility – CSIRO, PO Box 76, New South Wales, 1710, Epping, Australia

    R. N. Manchester & G. Hobbs

  3. Astronomy Department and NAIC, Cornell University, New York, 14853, Ithaca, USA

    J. M. Cordes

  4. Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, Columbia University, 550 West 120th Street, New York, 10027, New York, USA

    F. Camilo

  5. INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari, Loc. , Strada 54, 09012, Capoterra, Poggio dei Pini, Italy

    A. Possenti, N. D'Amico & M. Burgay

  6. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, 6224 Agricultural Road, British Columbia, V6T 1Z1, Vancouver, Canada

    I. H. Stairs

  7. Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita di Cagliari, Strada Provinciale Monserrato-Sestu, km 0.700, 09042, Monserrato, Italy

    N. D'Amico

Authors
  1. M. A. McLaughlin
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  2. A. G. Lyne
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  6. R. N. Manchester
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  7. J. M. Cordes
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  8. F. Camilo
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  9. A. Possenti
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  12. N. D'Amico
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  14. J. T. O'Brien
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to M. A. McLaughlin.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Figure 1

Burst observational signatures in frequency and time. (PDF 1723 kb)

Supplementary Figure 2

Typical burst intensities. (PDF 775 kb)

Supplementary Figure Legends

Full text to accompany the above Supplementary Figures. (PDF 49 kb)

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McLaughlin, M., Lyne, A., Lorimer, D. et al. Transient radio bursts from rotating neutron stars. Nature 439, 817–820 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature04440

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