Polarization Estimation for Radio Pulsars

Fuente: arXiv
Enregistré dans:
Détails bibliographiques
Auteur principal: McKinnon, M. M.
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
Sujets:
Accès en ligne:
Tags: Ajouter un tag
Pas de tags, Soyez le premier à ajouter un tag!
_version_ 1866910865219911680
author McKinnon, M. M.
author_facet McKinnon, M. M.
contents A number of polarization estimators have been developed for a variety of astrophysical applications to compensate measurements of linear polarization for a bias contributed by the instrumental noise. Most derivations of the estimators assume that the amplitude and orientation of the polarization vector are constant. This assumption generally is not valid for the radio emission from pulsars that fluctuates from pulse to pulse. The radio emission from pulsars, fast radio bursts, and magnetars can be elliptically polarized, and estimators of the total polarization and absolute value of the circular polarization are used in their observations. However, these estimators have not been formally developed to a level that is commensurate with those of linear polarization. Estimators are derived for circular, linear, and total polarization when the amplitude of the polarization vector is a constant or a random variable. Hybrid estimators are proposed for general application to pulsar polarization observations. They are shown to be more effective at removing instrumental noise than their commonly used counterparts.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_06264
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Polarization Estimation for Radio Pulsars
McKinnon, M. M.
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
A number of polarization estimators have been developed for a variety of astrophysical applications to compensate measurements of linear polarization for a bias contributed by the instrumental noise. Most derivations of the estimators assume that the amplitude and orientation of the polarization vector are constant. This assumption generally is not valid for the radio emission from pulsars that fluctuates from pulse to pulse. The radio emission from pulsars, fast radio bursts, and magnetars can be elliptically polarized, and estimators of the total polarization and absolute value of the circular polarization are used in their observations. However, these estimators have not been formally developed to a level that is commensurate with those of linear polarization. Estimators are derived for circular, linear, and total polarization when the amplitude of the polarization vector is a constant or a random variable. Hybrid estimators are proposed for general application to pulsar polarization observations. They are shown to be more effective at removing instrumental noise than their commonly used counterparts.
title Polarization Estimation for Radio Pulsars
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.06264