Jiamusi pulsar observations: III. Nulling of 20 pulsars

Abstract

Most of pulsar nulling observations were conducted at frequencies lower than 1400~MHz. We aim to understand the nulling behaviors of pulsars at relatively high frequency, and to check if nulling is caused by a global change of pulsar magnetosphere. 20 bright pulsars are observed at 2250~MHz with unprecedented lengths of time by using Jiamusi 66m telescope. Nulling fractions of these pulsars are estimated, and the null and emission states of pulses are identified. Nulling degrees and scales of the emission-null pairs are calculated to describe the distributions of emission and null lengths. Three pulsars, PSRs J0248+6021, J0543+2329 and J1844+00, are found to null for the first time. The details of null-to-emission and emission-to-null transitions within pulse window are first observed for PSR J1509+5531, which is a small probability event. A complete cycle of long nulls for hours is observed for PSR J1709-1640. For most of these pulsars, the K-S tests of nulling degrees and nulling scales reject the hypothesis that null and emission are of random processes at high significance levels. Emission-null sequences of some pulsars exhibit quasi-periodic, low-frequency or featureless modulations, which might be related to different origins. During transitions between emission and null states, pulse intensities have diverse tendencies for variations. Significant correlations are found for nulling fraction, nulling cadence and nulling scales with the energy loss rate of the pulsars. Combined with the nulling fractions reported in literatures for 146 nulling pulsars, we found that statistically large nulling fractions are more tightly related to pulsar period than to characteristic age or energy loss rate.