Observations of Bright Pulses from Pulsar B0031-07 at 4.82 GHz

We report on the detection of 146 (0.96%) bright pulses with a peak flux density >0.86 Jy from PSR B0031-07 in 4 hr of continuous observations made at 4.82 GHz, with a bandwidth of 1 GHz, using the Shanghai Tian Ma 65 m radio telescope. We find that the peak flux density distribution follows a power law with index alpha = -3.6 +/- 0.2, while the pulse energy appears to follow a logarithmic normal distribution. The bright pulses from PSR B0031-07 were observed to repeat in an irregular fashion. The intervals between bright pulses can be described with an exponentiated Weibull distribution. Furthermore, the sensitive observations at higher frequency with a short time resolution of 65.54 mu s form a reliable basis for detailed microstructure studies. Close inspection of the detected bright pulses reveals that 38 pulses exhibit well-defined quasi-periodicities. No unanimous period for the quasi-periodicities is found, and the peak flux density is independent of the micropulse width. Finally, possible physical mechanisms are discussed.

Automated summary

This study reports detection of bright pulses from PSR B0031-07, revealing specific distribution patterns of peak flux density and interval times, as well as well-defined quasi-periodicities in some of the detected pulses.