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The Cadmium Zinc Telluride Imager (CZTI) onboard AstroSat, an open detector above $\sim$100 keV, is a promising tool for the investigation of hard X-ray characteristics of $\gamma$-ray pulsars. A custom algorithm has been developed to detect pulsars from long integration ($\sim$years) of archival data, as reported by us earlier. Here we extend this method to include in the analysis an additional $\sim$20% of the CZTI pixels that were earlier ignored due to their lower gain values. Recent efforts have provided better and more secure calibration of these pixels, demonstrating their higher thresholds and extended energy range up to $\sim$1 MeV. Here we use the additional information provided by these pixels, enabling the construction of pulse profiles over a larger energy range. We compare the profiles of the Crab pulsar at different sub-bands and show that the behaviour is consistent with the extended energy coverage. As detailed spectroscopy over this full band remains difficult due to the limited count rate, we construct hardness ratios which, together with AstroSat Mass Model simulations, are able to constrain the power-law index of the radiation spectrum. We present our results for the phase-resolved spectrum of PSR J0534+2200 and for the total pulsed emission of PSR J1513-5908. The recovered photon indices are found to be accurate to within $\sim 20$%., Comment: Accepted for publication in the Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy, 11 pages, 5 figures, 7 tables

SSM onboard AstroSat is designed to monitor X-ray sky in the energy range 2.5–10 keV to detect and locate X-ray sources in outburst. SSM with its three almost identical 1D-proportional counters mounted on a rotating platform, scans the sky in step and stare mode of operation. It observes the X-ray sky and generates light curves for X-ray sources detected. Here, we discuss the positional calibration to carry out imaging with SSM. Onboard calibration of SSM has been carried out with Crab, the standard X-ray source. SSM observations of Crab are compared with that of MAXI on ISS for cross calibration of the instrument.

All-sky monitors can measure the fluxes of astrophysical sources by measuring the changes in observed counts as the source is occulted by the Earth. Such measurements have typically been carried out by all-sky monitors like $\textit{CGRO}$-BATSE and $\textit{Fermi}$-GBM. We demonstrate for the first time the application of this technique to measure fluxes of sources using a collimated instrument: the Cadmium Zinc Telluride detector on $\textit{AstroSat}$. Reliable flux measurements are obtained for the Crab nebula and pulsar, and for Cyg X-1 by carefully selecting the best occultation data sets. We demonstrate that CZTI can obtain such measurements for hard sources with intensities $\gtrsim1$Crab., Comment: Accepted in the "AstroSat - 5 years" special issue of the Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy

We present the timing results of out-of-eclipse observations of Centaurus X-3 spanning half a binary orbit, performed on 12-13 December, 2016 with the Large Area X-ray Proportional Counter (LAXPC) on-board AstroSat. The pulse profile was confirmed to exhibit a prominent pulse peak with a secondary inter-pulse. The systemic spin period of the pulsar was found to be $4.80188 \pm 0.000085$ s in agreement with its spin up trend. The spin up timescale seems to have increased to $7709 \pm 58$ yr that points to negative torque effects in the inner accretion disk. We also report the derived values of projected semi-major axis and orbital velocity of the neutron star., Accepted for publication in the Special Issue of Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy on AstroSat: Five Years in Orbit, 7 pages, 6 figures

The data pipeline at the Payload Operation Centre (POC) of the Scanning Sky Monitor (SSM) onboard AstroSat involves: (i) fetching the Level-0 data from the Indian Space Science Data Centre (ISSDC), (ii) Level-0 to Level-1 data processing followed by Level-2 data generation, and (iii) transfer of the Level-1 and Level-2 data back to ISSDC for dissemination of the re-packaged Level-2 data products. The major tasks involved in the generation of Level-1 and Level-2 data products are: (a) quality checks; time, alignment corrections, (b) temporal-HK plots generation, and, (c) image processing; light curve generation. The typical turn around time for this fully automated pipeline is about 25 min for one orbit data. In this paper, details of all the stages of this data pipeline are discussed.

AstroSat Proposal Processing System (APPS) is a mission critical software solution designed and developed by the joint efforts of Indian Space Research Organization and the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics. It facilitates the participation of global scientific community to submit scientific proposals for observations with India’s first multi-wavelength space observatory. The software systematizes the proposal submission and review process before the successful proposed observations are scheduled to carryout scientific observations. This paper describes the overall architecture of the system, implementation stratagems, administrative aspects and security aspects of the software. The paper also describes the techniques adopted for seamless day-to-day operations in meeting the mission requirements. As a future direction, the paper summarizes the roadmap for development of a generic multi-mission proposal handling model from the experiences gained through APPS.

Scanning Sky Monitor (SSM) onboard AstroSat is an X-ray sky monitor in the energy range 2.5–10 keV. SSM scans the sky for X-ray transient sources in this energy range of interest. If an X-ray transient source is detected in outburst by SSM, the information will be provided to the astronomical community for follow-up observations to do a detailed study of the source in various other bands. SSM instrument, since its power-ON in orbit, has observed a number of X-ray sources. This paper discusses observations of few X-ray transients by SSM. The flux reported by SSM for few sources during its Performance Verification phase (PV phase) is studied and the results are discussed.

This article presents a brief description of India's AstroSat mission which is a powerful space based observatory for compact star research. An account is given of observational constraints and spectral and timing capabilities as realised post-launch. Some preliminary results of observations of the Crab pulsar and an X-ray binary system GX~301-2 are presented to illustrate some of the capabilities of the mission., Has appeared in Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy special issue on 'Physics of Neutron Stars and Related Objects', celebrating the 75th birth-year of G. Srinivasan."

Charged Particle Monitor (CPM) on-board the AstroSat satellite is an instrument designed to detect the flux of charged particles at the satellite location. A Cesium Iodide Thallium (CsI(Tl)) crystal is used with a Kapton window to detect protons with energies greater than 1 MeV. The ground calibration of CPM was done using gamma-rays from radioactive sources and protons from particle accelerators. Based on the ground calibration results, energy deposition above 1 MeV are accepted and particle counts are recorded. It is found that CPM counts are steady and the signal for the onset and exit of South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) region are generated in a very reliable and stable manner., Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, 5 tables. To appear in JAA special issue on AstroSat

We report the in-orbit performance of Scanning Sky Monitor (SSM) onboard AstroSat. The SSM operates in the energy range 2.5 to 10 keV and scans the sky to detect and locate transient X-ray sources. This information of any interesting phenomenon in the X-ray sky as observed by SSM is provided to the astronomical community for follow-up observations. Following the launch of AstroSat on 28th September, 2015, SSM was commissioned on October 12th, 2015. The first power ON of the instrument was with the standard X-ray source, Crab in the field-of-view. The first orbit data revealed the basic expected performance of one of the detectors of SSM, SSM1. Following this in the subsequent orbits, the other detectors were also powered ON to find them perform in good health. Quick checks of the data from the first few orbits revealed that the instrument performed with the expected angular resolution of 12’ $$\times $$ 2.5 $$^\circ $$ and effective area in the energy range of interest. This paper discusses the instrument aspects along with few on-board results immediately after power ON.

This paper reviews the current status of the theoretical models of the evolution of the magnetic fields of neutron stars other than magnetars. It appears that the magnetic fields of neutron stars decay significantly only if they are in binary systems. Three major physical models for this, namely spindown-induced flux expulsion, ohmic evolution of crustal field and diamagnetic screening of the field by accreted plasma, are reviewed.

An accurate numerical survey of the density profiles corresponding to the crusts of neutron stars for representative equation of state models is presented. This will find application in calculations of thermal and magnetic evolution of neutron stars.

We estimate the contribution of millisecond pulsars to the diffuse gamma-ray background of the Galaxy, and show that a significant fraction of the Galactic background may originate from them. A small number of the unidentified COS-B point sources may, in fact, be millisecond pulsars. It is argued that several hundred millisecond pulsars may be detectable as point sources by the GRO satellite

One of the intriguing aspects of supernova remnants is their morphology. While the majority of them look like hollow shells, a few, called plerions, are centrally filled like the Crab nebula, and some have a shell-plerion combination morphology. The centrally-filled component in these remnants is believed to be powered by a central pulsar. In this paper we present results of model calculations of the evolution of surface brightness and morphology of supernova remnants containing pulsars. We discuss how the morphology of a supernova remnant will depend on the velocity of expansion, the density of the ambient medium into which it is expanding, and the initial period and magnetic field strength of the central pulsar

We conclude that pulsar-driven supernova remnants (SNRs) are extremely rare objects. Indeed an analysis of the known sample of plerions suggests a very low birthrate ∼ 1 in 240 years. Long-lived and bright plerions like the Crab nebula are likely to be produced only when the pulsar has an initial period ∼ 10–20 milliseconds and a field ∼ 1012 G. Such pulsars inside rapidly expanding shell remnants should also produce detectable plerions. The extreme rarity of SNRs with such hybrid morphology leads us to conclude that these pulsars must have been born with an initial period larger than ∼ 35–70 milliseconds.

Observations of the H272α recombination line towards the galactic centre show features near VLSR= 0, −50 and + 36 kms−1. We have combined the parameters of these features with the available H166α measurements to obtain the properties of the ionized gas present along the line of sight and also in the ‘3 kpc arm’. For the line-of-sight ionized gas we get an electron density around 7 cm−3 and a pathlength through it ∼ 10–60 pc. The emission measure and the electron temperature are in the range 500–2900 pc cm−6 and 2000–6000 K. respectively. The ionized gas in the 3 kpc arm has an electron density of 30 cm−3 and extends over 9 pc along the line of sight if we assume an electron temperature of 104 K. Using the available upper limit to the intensity of the H351α recombination line, we show that the distributed ionized gas responsible for the dispersion of pulsar signals should have a temperature >4500 K. and a minimum filling factor of 20 per cent. We also show that recombination lines from the ‘warm ionized’ gas proposed by McKee & Ostriker (1977) should be detectable in the frequency range 100–150 MHz towards the galactic centre with the sensitivity available at present.

We investigate the evolution of rotation period and spindown age of a pulsar whose surface magnetic field undergoes a phase of growth. Application of these results to the Crab pulsar strongly indicates that its parameters cannot be accounted for by the field growth theories.