Low frequency pulsar observations with the international LOFAR station FR606

Abstract

AbstractThe pulsar’s signal passes through the interstellar medium (ISM) which leads to both chromatic dispersive delays and multipath pulse broadening. These effects have a strong frequency dependence (f−2 and f−4 respectively). Pulse profiles of pulsars are also frequency-dependent leading to some degeneracy with the ISM imprint. Furthermore, many pulsars show a turnover of their spectrum around ~100 MHz. For all these reasons, the frequency band below 100 MHz contains a lot of information about both the pulsar emission and the ISM. Our study is based on a LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) monitoring campaign using the international station FR606. Firstly, we demonstrate the importance of a monitoring campaign. Secondly, we calculate median spectra and locate the turnover frequency for 3 pulsars (B0809+74, B1133+16, B1508+55).