航空学报 > 2023, Vol. 44 Issue (3): 526566-526566   doi: 10.7527/S1000-6893.2022.26566

利用Crab脉冲星X射线观测校准星载原子钟频率

童明雷1,2(), 韩孟纳1,2, 杨廷高1, 赵成仕1, 朱幸芝1,2   

  1. 1.中国科学院 国家授时中心,西安  710600
    2.中国科学院大学,北京  100049
  • 收稿日期:2021-10-25 修回日期:2021-11-24 接受日期:2022-01-12 出版日期:2023-02-15 发布日期:2022-01-18
  • 通讯作者: 童明雷 E-mail:mltong@ntsc.ac.cn
  • 基金资助:
    科技部SKA专项(2020SKA0120103);国家自然科学基金(U1831130)

Correcting frequency of a spaceborne atomic clock using X-ray observations of Crab pulsar

Minglei TONG1,2(), Mengna HAN1,2, Tinggao YANG1, Chengshi ZHAO1, Xingzhi ZHU1,2   

  1. 1.National Time Service Center,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Xi’an  710600,China
    2.University of Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing  100049,China
  • Received:2021-10-25 Revised:2021-11-24 Accepted:2022-01-12 Online:2023-02-15 Published:2022-01-18
  • Contact: Minglei TONG E-mail:mltong@ntsc.ac.cn
  • Supported by:
    National SKA Program of China(2020SKA0120103);National Natural Science Foundation of China(U1831130)

摘要:

为了改善星载原子钟长期的时间保持能力,并提高其自主性,利用XPNAV-1卫星观测的Crab脉冲星数据研究了驾驭星载原子钟频率的方法。在X射线脉冲星计时处理中,利用高斯核回归的方法平滑了脉冲星轮廓,可以有效提高脉冲轮廓的信噪比(SNR),从而提高了计时精度。通过仿真记录光子到达时刻的参考钟存在频率偏差,分析了参考钟频率偏差对脉冲星拟合前计时残差的影响,基于此给出了脉冲星校准星载原子钟频率的方法。对于存在10-11量级频率偏差的星载钟,1个月左右的Crab脉冲星数据可以获得相对误差约40%的频率校准精度。利用更长时间跨度的脉冲星计时数据,预期可以进一步提高星载钟的频率校准精度。

关键词: 脉冲星, 原子钟, X射线脉冲星计时, 频率驾驭, 计时残差

Abstract:

To improve the long-term time-keeping ability of a spaceborne atomic clock and improve its autonomy, this paper proposes a method for steering the frequency of the spaceborne atomic clock by using the Crab pulsar data observed by XPNAV-1 satellite. In the X-ray pulsar timing processing, we use the Gaussian kernel regression method to smooth the pulsar profile, which can effectively improve the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) of the pulsar profile and timing precision. By simulating the frequency deviation of the reference clock recording the photon arrival times, the influence of the frequency deviation of the reference clock on pre-fit timing residuals is analyzed. Based on this, a method for frequency calibration of the spaceborne atomic clock is given. For the spaceborne clock with frequency deviation of order 10-11, the frequency calibration accuracy with relative error of about 40% can be obtained from the Crab Pulsar data for about one month. It is expected that the frequency calibration accuracy of spaceborne clock can be further improved by using the pulsar timing data with a longer time span.

Key words: pulsar, atomic clock, X-ray pulsar timing, frequency steering, timing residual

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