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A chaotic attractor in timing noise from the Vela pulsar?Fourteen years of timing residual data from the Vela pulsar have been analyzed in order to determine if a chaotic dynamical process is the origin of timing noise. Using the correlation sum technique, a dimension of about 1.5 is obtained. This low dimension indicates underlying structure in the phase residuals which may be evidence for a chaotic attractor. It is therefore possible that nonlinear dynamics intrinsic to the spin-down may be the cause of the timing noise in the Vela pulsar. However, it has been found that the stimulated random walks in frequency and frequency derivative often used to model pulsar timing noise also have low fractal dimension, using the same analysis technique. Recent work suggesting that random processes with steep power spectra can mimic strange attractors seems to be confirmed in the case of these random walks. It appears that the correlation sum estimator for dimension is unable to distinguish between chaotic and random processes.
Document ID
19900044374
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Harding, Alice K.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Shinbrot, Troy
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Cordes, James M.
(Cornell University Ithaca, NY, United States)
Date Acquired
August 14, 2013
Publication Date
April 20, 1990
Publication Information
Publication: Astrophysical Journal, Part 1
Volume: 353
ISSN: 0004-637X
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Accession Number
90A31429
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NSF AST-85-20530
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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