Radio Pulses along the Galactic Plane

Abstract

We have surveyed 68 deg^2 along the Galactic Plane for single, dispersed radio pulses. Each of 3027 independent pointings was observed for 68 s using the Arecibo telescope at 430 MHz. Spectra were collected at intervals of 0.5 ms and examined for pulses with duration 0.5 to 8 ms. Such single pulse analysis is the most sensitive method of detecting highly scattered or highly dispersed signals from pulsars with large pulse-to-pulse intensity variations. A total of 36 individual pulses from five previously known pulsars were detected, along with a single pulse not associated with a previously known source. Follow-up observations discovered a pulsar, PSR J1918+08, from which the pulse originated. This pulsar has period 2.130 s and dispersion measure 30 pc cm^-3, and has been seen to emit single pulses with strength up to 8 times the average.

14 pages, 5 figures, AASTeX, accepted by the Astrophysical Journal