Disentangle pulse jitter from long-term profile variability in PSR J1022+1001

Determine whether the weak epoch-to-epoch pulse-profile variations observed in PSR J1022+1001 arise from pulse jitter or from longer-term changes in the pulsar’s emission process.

Background

PSR J1022+1001 is a well-studied millisecond pulsar with established variability in the relative amplitudes of its leading and trailing profile components. In the six-year MeerKAT Pulsar Timing Array data, the observed changes appear predominantly as weak, epoch-to-epoch fluctuations rather than as a clearly coherent long-term pattern.

Because the observed variability is weak, the authors identify two plausible explanations—pulse jitter and intrinsic long-term profile evolution—but state that the present data do not permit these possibilities to be distinguished conclusively. Resolving this ambiguity is important for determining whether the variability represents a timing-noise phenomenon or a change in the pulsar’s emission state.

References

Given the relatively weak nature of the observed changes, it is possible that at least some of the variability is associated with pulse jitter, although we cannot conclusively distinguish between these possibilities with the present data.

— Time-Correlated Profile Variability in the MeerKAT Pulsar Timing Array  (2609.09919 - Bhat et al., 9 Sep 2026) in Section 3, subsection “PSR J1022+1001”