Estudo de pulsares através de catálogos: preparando observações com o radiotelescópio Uirapuru.

Abstract

The Pulsar begins with the gravitational collapse of a star after it has depleted all of its nuclear fuel in its core. During this process, the star compresses until its electrons and protons merge, releasing a large amount of energy in the form of neutrinos. This entire process leads to the formation of a neutron star, which is a very dense and compact object with a mass of 1.4 solar masses and a diameter of about 20 kilometers. The star rotates rapidly and, if it has a very strong magnetic field, it can generate regular pulses of electromagnetic radiation. In short, pulsars are highly energetic objects with strong magnetic fields that rotate rapidly, emitting beams of radiation in a variety of wavelengths, including radio waves, X-rays, gamma rays, and visible light. There are several ways to study these phenomena, and an interesting way is to do it through catalogs. But why use catalogs? There is a great advantage in using them, as it is possible to organize accurate information, such as coordinates, observational parameters, and other properties. By using catalogs, it is possible to identify and characterize pulsars in a particular region of the sky more easily, due to the availability of accurate information about their location, period, dispersion, etc. There are several types of pulsar catalogs available, each with different methodologies and approaches. The most well-known is the "ATNF (AUSTRALIA TELESCOPE NATIONAL FACILITY) Pulsar Catalogue" (which was the source of data for this work), which contains accurate information on more than 2,500 pulsars detected by radio telescopes around the world. The catalogs are constantly updated with new information as new pulsars are discovered and existing information is refined. Throughout this dissertation, we will address some aspects and concepts related to Astronomy and radio astronomy. We also include a subsection on the structure and operation of radio telescopes, general information about the BINGO radio telescope project, and discuss some concepts about coordinates. We have separated two chapters to discuss pulsars, delving into concepts of detection, population, dispersion, and luminosity. Finally, we present a chapter on the entire process of data collection and treatment until obtaining the graphs based on catalog data.