Radio timing and optical photometry of the black widow system PSR J1518+0204C in the globular cluster M5

Journal Article · Sat Nov 01 04:00:00 EDT 2014 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/795/1/29· OSTI ID:22370339

Pallanca, C.; Ferraro, F. R.; Dalessandro, E.; Lanzoni, B. ^[1]; Ransom, S. M. ^[2]; Hessels, J. W. T. ^[3]; Stairs, I. ^[4]; Freire, P. C. C. ^[5]

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1. Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Bologna, Viale Berti Pichat 6/2, I-40127 Bologna (Italy)
2. National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, VA 22901 (United States)
3. ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, Postbus 2, 7990 AA Dwingeloo (Netherlands)
4. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, 6224 Agricultural Road, Vancouver, BC V6T1Z1 (Canada)
5. Max-Planck-Institute für Radioastronomie, D-53121 Bonn (Germany)

We report on the determination of astrometric, spin, and orbital parameters for PSR J1518+0204C, a 'black widow' binary millisecond pulsar in the globular cluster (GC) M5. The accurate position and orbital parameters obtained from radio timing allowed us to search for the optical companion. By using WFC3/Hubble Space Telescope images, we identified a very faint variable star (m{sub F390W} ≳ 24.8, m{sub F606W} ≳ 24.3, m{sub F814W} ≳ 23.1) located at only 0.''25 from the pulsar's timing position. Due to its strong variability, this star is visible only in a subsample of images. However, the light curve obtained folding the available data with the orbital parameters of the pulsar shows a maximum at the pulsar inferior conjunction and a possible minimum at the pulsar superior conjunction. Furthermore, the shape of the optical modulation indicates a heating process possibly due to the pulsar wind. This is the first identification of an optical companion to a black widow pulsar in the dense stellar environment of a GC.

• OSTI ID: 22370339
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 795; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
BINARY STARS
IMAGES
MODULATION
PHOTOMETRY
PULSARS
SPACE
SPIN
STAR CLUSTERS
STELLAR WINDS
TELESCOPES
VARIABLE STARS
VISIBLE RADIATION