Detection of Giant Pulses from the Transitional Millisecond Pulsar J1227-4853

Abstract We report the discovery of giant pulse (GP) emission from the transitional millisecond pulsar PSR J1227−4853, using 174 hr of single-pulse data from the upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope. This marks the first detection of GPs from a transitional millisecond pulsar and adds to the small number of millisecond pulsars known to exhibit such extreme variability. A total of 235 GPs were detected across observations at 550–750 MHz, with widths as narrow as 1.28 μ s and flux densities up to ∼10 4 times the pulsar’s mean flux density. The GPs are strongly localized in pulse phase, originating predominantly from the second and third main-pulse components, and are absent in the interpulse region. Their cumulative fluence distribution follows a power law above the completeness threshold, consistent with a defining characteristic of GP emission. The arrival times of the GPs deviate significantly from Poisson statistics, with the waiting-time distribution well described by a Weibull model having a shape parameter of k = 0.30, indicative of strong temporal clustering. During an epoch of enhanced activity, the GP rate increased by nearly 2 orders of magnitude to 124 hr −1 , with a corresponding shape parameter of k = 0.47. This value is similar to that reported for a burst storm from the repeating fast radio burst (FRB) FRB 20200120E, suggesting possible phenomenological parallels between GPs from compact binary systems and repeating FRBs.