No pulsar left behind - I. Timing, pulse-sequence polarimetry and emission morphology for 12 pulsars

In this paper, we study a set of 12 pulsars that previously had not been characterized. Our timing shows that eleven of them are 'normal' isolated pulsars, with rotation periods between 0.22 and 2.65 s, characteristic ages between 0.25 Myr and 0.63 Gyr, and estimated magnetic fields ranging from 0.05 to 3.8 x 10(12) G. The youngest pulsar in our sample, PSR J0627+0706, is located near the Monoceros supernova remnant (SNR G205.5+0.5), but it is not the pulsar most likely to be associated with it. We also confirmed the existence of a candidate from an early Arecibo survey, PSR J2053+1718, its subsequent timing and polarimetry are also presented here. It is an isolated pulsar with a spin period of 119 ms, a relatively small magnetic field of 5.8 x 10(9) G and a characteristic age of 6.7Gyr; this suggests the pulsar was mildly recycled by accretion from a companion star, which became unbound when that companion became a supernova. We report the results of single-pulse and average Arecibo polarimetry at both 327 and 1400 MHz aimed at understanding the basic emission properties and beaming geometry of these pulsars. Three of them (PSRs J0943+2253, J1935+1159 and J2050+1259) have strong nulls and sporadic radio emission, several others exhibit interpulses (PSRs J0627+0706 and J0927+2345) and one shows regular drifting subpulses (J1404+1159).