Parkes observations for project P1162 semester 2023OCTS_10

Full description

Pulsar timing is a powerful tool in studying pulsar physics. Discovering more exotic pulsar systems or timing pulsars with higher precision is an essential part of pulsar astronomy. As a recently discovered millisecond pulsar, PSR J1402+13 is an interesting source for follow-up timing observations. First, its apparent spin-down rate, as reported in the catalogue, was the highest among known millisecond pulsars, causing a seeming tension with the spin-up theory. Second, its apparent high flux density and small distance seemed to give a high timing precision. We have observed J1402+13 with high cadence in the past 9 months and obtained a phase-coherent solution, which gives a much lower pdot (~ 10^{-20} s/s) thus solves the tension with the spin-up theory. We apply for another 15 hours to observe the pulsar to further extend the timing baseline, which will refine our timing solution and help us clearly evaluate its timing precision and potential to be used for pulsar timing arrays. The observation will also help us study the scintillation effect of the pulsar and measure its steep spectral index. The more comprehensive measurements of the pulsar will also facilitate observations in optical and gamma-ray bands.