Parkes observations for project P1334 semester 2024OCTS_02

Full description

The Galactic Centre is the most complex and dynamic region of our Galaxy. Radio images have revealed a plethora of filamentary structures that trace out magnetic fields running perpendicular to the Galactic plane. Exactly what powers the radio emission of these filaments had remained a mystery, until the serendipitous discovery of a pulsar embedded in one. With a spin-period of 8.4 ms, PSR J1744-2946 is the first ever millisecond pulsar to be discovered in the central region of our Galaxy. While an exciting discovery in its own right, the limited timing baseline leaves open several unanswered questions: How efficiently is the pulsar injecting energy into the radio filament? Could the pulsar be included in pulsar timing array experiments? And can it be used as a key component in the search for axion dark matter? In this proposal we will use the Ultra-Wideband Low receiver system on Murriyang to conduct regular, monthly observations of PSR J1744-2946. This will provide us with a measurement of the pulsar spin-down rate and a sense of its long-term stability, thereby providing answers to the questions posed above.