IDENTIFICATION OF THE OPTICAL COUNTERPART OF FERMI BLACK WIDOW MILLISECOND PULSAR PSR J1544+4937

Journal Article · Sun Aug 10 04:00:00 EDT 2014 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/791/1/L5· OSTI ID:22365403

Tang, Sumin; Phinney, E. Sterl; Prince, Thomas A.; Bellm, Eric; Cao, Yi; Perley, Daniel A. ^[1]; Kaplan, David L. ^[2]; Breton, Rene P. ^[3]; Bildsten, Lars ^[4]; Kong, Albert K. H.; Yen, T. -C. ^[5]; Sesar, Branimir ^[6]; Wolf, William M. ^[7]

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1. Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
2. Physics Department, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI 53211 (United States)
3. School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ (United Kingdom)
4. Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106 (United States)
5. Institute of Astronomy and Department of Physics, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan (China)
6. Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Königstuhl 17, D-69117 Heidelberg (Germany)
7. Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106 (United States)

We report the optical identification of the companion to the Fermi black widow millisecond pulsar PSR J1544+4937. We find a highly variable source on Keck Low Resolution Imaging Spectrometer images at the nominal pulsar position, with 2 mag variations over orbital period in the B, g, R, and I bands. The nearly achromatic light curves are difficult to explain with a simply irradiated hemisphere model, and suggest that the optical emission is dominated by a nearly isothermal hot patch on the surface of the companion facing the pulsar. We roughly constrain the distance to PSR J1544+4937 to be between 2 and 5 kpc. A more reliable distance measurement is needed in order to constrain the composition of the companion.

• OSTI ID: 22365403
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Letters Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 791; ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
DIAGRAMS
GAMMA RADIATION
IRRADIATION
PULSARS
RESOLUTION
SPECTROMETERS
STAR MODELS
SURFACES
VARIATIONS
VISIBLE RADIATION
WHITE DWARF STARS