# Slow pulsars from the STScI/NAIC drift scan search

## The STScI/NAIC drift scan search

During the recent Gregorian upgrade of the Arecibo telescope, considerable effort was put into drift scan searches of the Arecibo sky ($`1^{}<\delta <+39^{}`$) for new pulsars. The STScI/NAIC group was assigned declination strips centered at 1.5, 6.5, 11.5, 16.5, 21.5, 26.5, 31.5, and 36.5. A list of 20 candidates was compiled from a search in these areas between 1994 and 1998. We have so far confirmed eight new pulsars as a result of these observations.

The nominal parameters based on the confirmation observations are summarized in Table 1. Barycentric periods have uncertainties of order one unit in the last digit quoted, while a conservative estimate of the uncertainty in the dispersion measures (DM) is $`\pm 10`$ cm<sup>-3</sup> pc. The positions are presently uncertain by of order $`\pm 5`$ arcmin in right ascension and declination — equivalent to the half power beam size of the telescope at 430 MHz.

Although we presently have no long-term estimates of the flux densities of the new pulsars, it is already clear that they are weak sources with typical flux densities of order 0.5 to 1 mJy. Some of the initial detections were probably significantly facilitated by flux amplifications due to interstellar scintillation. Inferred 430-MHz luminosities, based on their fluxes and dispersion measures estimates range between 3 and 30 mJy kpc<sup>2</sup>. These pulsars, along with those discovered by other groups during the Arecibo upgrade, should greatly assist future statistical studies of the low end of the pulsar luminosity function. More accurate measurements of the flux densities, as well as the spin and astrometric parameters for each source are presently underway at Arecibo as part of a regular timing program using the Penn State Pulsar Machine.