Between a trip to Houston and other distractions, finding a stretch of time to get real work done has been a challenge. However, I feel I’m at a point where I can explain what I’m going to be doing this summer. (Of course, not knowing much about theory, I could be incorrect, but this is how I understand it at this point.)

If a millisecond pulsar is at the origin of a gamma-ray burst, there should be a high-frequency periodicity within the observed data. If the signal is bright enough to be detected above the noise, I should be able to find it by performing a Fourier transform on Swift XRT’s window timing data. As of a couple of days ago, there were only 105 Swift-detected GRBs with WT data, and only a handful of them were any good at first glance. Sandy wants me to take a sample of ten or so, starting with the two best, to look for any kind of unexplained significant pulsation on the order of milliseconds.

As far as we know of, no one has published any kind of study like this. Scientists have been looking for periodicities like this for years and have come up empty-handed. The general feeling is that if I find something, that would be spectacular, but no one expects me to find anything. That’s not going to stop me from looking. Even if I find nothing, I’ll learn how to perform a timing analysis and learn more about the theory of GRB origin, which is mostly the point.

My first step is learning the basics of IDL, which I’ve never used before. I’m slowly picking up on the syntax. I’m also searching for papers having anything to do with the connection between GRBs and pulsars. Unfortunately, I’m not finding a whole lot out there. My search is ongoing.

It’s great to be back in Huntsville!