| Name: ROHIT NAIR |
| Affiliation: University of Mumbai |
| Conference ID: ASI2026_986 |
| Title: Error Analysis of Rotational Parameter Estimation in High-Energy Pulsars |
| Abstract Type: Poster |
| Abstract Category: High Energy Phenomena, Fundamental Physics and Astronomy |
| Author(s) and Co-Author(s) with Affiliation: Rohit Nair(University of Mumbai-400098, India), Akshat Singhal(HBCSE-TIFR-400088, India), Devendra Sarwa(Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal-462066, India), Suman Bala(USRA STI-35805, USA), Gayathri Raman(Indian Institute of Bombay-400076, India) |
| Abstract: Over the past few decades, significant progress has been made in estimating the rotational parameters of
high-energy pulsars. However, existing approaches still lack standardized and rigorous mathematical frameworks for quantifying uncertainties. This limitation is especially pronounced for high-energy periodic sources
dominated by Poisson noise. In this work, we revisit earlier estimation techniques and present three computationally efficient methods based on the Z
n^2 statistic. These methods enable reliable determination of the spin
frequency and its first derivative, along with statistically consistent confidence intervals, within a narrow-
band search framework. The methodology performs robustly for typical pulsar periods ranging from a few
milliseconds to a few seconds, even when the observation duration extends over several thousand seconds.
Extensive Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate the robustness of the approach under a wide range of conditions, including variations in signal-to-noise ratio, photon counts, observation duration, and data gaps. The
proposed methods remain accurate even in low-count regimes where traditional techniques often fail. We validate our approach on real pulsar data from AstroSat’s LAXPC, which operates over a suitable energy range
from 3 keV to 80 keV, for Crab Pulsar, ULX Swift J0243.6+6124 and SAX J1808.4-3658. This work emphasizes statistically rigorous error estimation, which is critical for reliable modeling and follow up searches for rotational
parameters. |
