Discovered in the late 1960s, the Crab Pulsar is a unique pulsar astronomers continue to study due to its curious behavior and significance.
Pulsars are rapidly spinning neutron stars, which are extremely dense stars composed almost entirely of neutrons. As they spin, they release beams of radiation that can be detected by astronomers here on Earth through continuous monitoring by radio telescopes, like the Green Bank Telescope in Pocahontas County, West Virginia.
Graham Doskoch
Residing in the center of the Crab Nebula, the Crab Pulsar is a dense, neutron
star left over from a supernova explosion located in the constellation Taurus
about 6,500 light years from Earth.
From Earth, astronomers observe the Crab Pulsar and gather continuous data to further learn more about these mysterious cosmic objects.
Graham Doskoch, a graduate student in the West Virginia University Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Center for Gravitational Waves and Cosmology, led the study focused on the behavior of the Crab Pulsar, specifically seeking a better understanding of its giant pulse rates. The work resulted in Doskoch leading the publication as first author in The Astrophysical Journal titled " A Statistical Analysis of Crab Pulsar Giant Pulse Rates".
Giant pulse (GP) rates are the single pulses of light that pulsars beam at each rotation, but these are uniquely brighter than the average pulse, hence “giant.” The Crab Pulsar, also known as PSR J0534+2200, is a young pulsar with high GP rates. Doskoch and team used the 20-meter telescope at Green Bank to observe the young pulsar over 461 days and used the data to perform a statistical study of the pulsar to better understand the processes affecting them and potentially providing insight into the behavior of other neutron stars that emit bright single pulses.
The Crab is one of a few pulsars that emit giant pulses, which are many times stronger than normal pulses. It's a widely-studied object while still leaving researchers plenty to learn about its behavior and environment.
To strengthen the research project’s mission, Doskoch enlisted the assistance of the young astronomers-in-training from the Pulsar Science Collaboratory to help in gathering the immense amount of data needed to perform the statistical study.
The Pulsar Science Collaboratory (PSC) is an extracurricular citizen science project for high school students, teachers, and undergraduate students all over the country. These students are trained by experts like Prof. Maura McLaughlin of West Virginia University, scientists from the Green Bank Observatory, and graduate students across various institutions, to gather and review data, identify characteristics of a pulsar, and hopefully discover a new pulsar.
To date, PSC students have analyzed more than two million pieces of data, discovered eight new pulsars, and have been authors on numerous scientific publications. They were even congratulated in person by President Obama in 2009. The PSC offers an open invitation to students who may not have the resources, opportunities, or experience to fully immerse themselves in expert-led training in scientific research. The outreach efforts to reach students who may never have thought about pulsar research before have been wildly successful, with many students exploring research coupled with one-on-one training and mentoring from the experts – all from the comfort of their home.
In order to gather data, researchers must be allotted scheduled time on the 20-meter telescope at Green Bank. The PSC has a bank of time that it can dedicate to its students who are working on pulsar research, securing the PSC students VIP access to valuable telescope time.
In this project, the PSC students used this time to gather, observe, and analyze
data
collected from the 20-meter telescope (to the right)
using sophisticated programs created by faculty and students, including Doskoch
at WVU and other PSC partner institutions.
Additionally, they learned how to use Python, a high level coding language, to
process the data while using Skynet robotic interface.
The data from the publication is now being used by the advanced timing group in the PSC to perform timing analysis on the Crab in search of interesting irregularities and other outstanding observations. PSC leaders and researchers across the country will use these data sets for tasks like correlating the giant pulse data with gamma ray observations and furthering the understanding of pulsars.
Doskoch volunteered to lead a few working groups in the PSC earlier in the year as an outreach and educational mission while continuing his own research projects as a graduate student in the astronomy graduate program at WVU. “It worked out well having advice from my advisor and guidance on how to lead along with outside collaborators who also have plenty of experience with science and with mentoring students. That kind of support structure is key. That certainly contributed to the success of the project,” says Doskoch.
Collaborative research projects, like these, continually prove their worth, as Doskoch was able to perform the overall statistical study of the data and turn it into a first authored research publication, published in the Astrophysical Journal in September 2024.The publication validates the importance of quality mentorship, peer-to-peer training, and outreach that focuses on a foundational research experience that effectively reaches students that may not have otherwise had the exposure to astronomy research.
“The PSC students were really helpful, from taking observations to running our giant pulse search code to performing some of the more advanced statistical analyses,” stated Doskoch.
The experience of mentoring young scientists in the PSC was a positive experience
for Doskoch, who reflects on the importance of early research exposure. “You
get a more realistic idea of what real scientific research is like. You get to
explore and find out what you enjoy through these research introduction projects.”
He and his working groups in the PSC are still observing and analyzing data and
plan to continue their mission of training young scientists and preparing them
for successful research projects.
Doskoch is excited for future projects, noting “more data could help explain some
currently unexplained features in the data.”
hal/02/12/2025
Contact:
Holly Legleiter
hlegleiter@mail.wvu.edu