Look, up in the sky

1
Look, up in the sky!
By Lucas Bolyard, Luis Garcia, and Zach Ewen.
Prep Fold Plots Looking at Pointings in the
sky Up until this point in time, Team Disney has
gone through both data sets, viewed pointings in
the sky with the GBT, and were left with the task
of presenting and evaluating data. We had our
scheduled GBT time 1955 2040 LST, and we did
our observations. We took a few minutes of data
on some suspected pulsars, and in the end, we won
the privilege to choose the next area of a drift
scan survey, and chose 7 degrees north. And after
we ran the scan, we received data to analyse. We
went though multiple prep fold plots and single
pulse profiles.
Here to the left we have pictured a perfect
single pulse profile.(J0034-0721).
In this plot, we see a potential pulsar. Although
there is some noise in the profile and the time
domain, vertical dark lines are still visible.
The sub-band also corresponds and the DM is not
zero, a strong indicator of a possible pulsar.
And pictured here we have some more crazy RFI.

• How to evaluate data
• Tips for finding a pulsar. (prep fold plot and
  single pulse profile)
• Look first at the pulse profile (prep fold plots
  only), and look to see if there are distinguished
  peaks and no crazy RFI.
• In a single pulse profile, look first at the DM
  versus Time graph, then look for the strength of
  the dots at a single DM.
• After looking at the pulse profile (prep fold
  plot only), check the Time Domain for dark
  vertical lines that correspond with the pulse
  profile. Afterwards, look at the Chi squared to
  make sure it is roughly diagonal.-Duncan
  Lorimer Then after completing this, check the
  sub-band plot, and make sure it corresponds with
  the Time Domain.
• Following the examination of the DM versus Time
  graph, check the Signal-to-Noise graph and also
  check the Number of Pulses to DM. Make sure on
  all three graphs have a same DM.
• Lastly when evaluating prep fold plots, look at
  the DM graph make sure it peaks and is not at
  zero, for if the DM were to be at zero, then you
  will have detected RFI.

This profile shows how every pulsar is unique.
These strong triple peaks are the equivalent of a
finger print. The time domain is clear, as well
as the sub-band, and the DM is at a peak of 40.
Potential Candidates Here are the most promising
plots that we found.
These peaks are very strong, the lines in the
time domain are very well defined and line up
right under the profile. The sub-band is strong
throughout the range of frequency and the DM is
not zero.
Conclusion Through this program, we learned how
to look for potential pulsar candidates through
GBT drift scan data. We analysed data from a
drift scan conducted early Wednesday morning. We
searched through many prep fold plots and some
single pulse profiles. We made a step by step
procedure to evaluate and analyse GBT pointings
individually. Now, we are able to apply our
knowledge of prep fold plots and single pulse
profiles to search the data base in hopes of
discovering new pulsars.
This pulse was recorded at a frequency of 350 MHz
and clearly shows a pulse at a DM of 250. Since
the DM is reasonable, we have strong reason to
believe this might in fact be a pulsar.
Prep fold plot showing a pulsar and look at the
pulse profile, Time Domain, Chi squared, sub-band
plot, and the DM graph.
Acknowledgements We want to thank the PSC,
Greenbank and all its staff, the teachers for
helping, and our fellow peers. Also, we would
like to thank the ATNF and www.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de
for having all of the data we needed in one
useful place!
This pulsar showed very interesting qualities, a
very strong pulse at a DM of 15. This lead to
more observations, and has been confirmed as a
pulsar, but it has yet to be published.
Prep fold plot showing RFI.