The NANOGrav nine-year data set: mass and geometric measurements of binary millisecond pulsars

Journal Article · Thu Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 2016 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-637X/832/2/167· OSTI ID:22868382

Fonseca, Emmanuel; Stairs, Ingrid H.; Crowter, Kathryn; Gonzalez, Marjorie E. ^[1]; Pennucci, Timothy T.; Jones, Glenn ^[2]; Ellis, Justin A. ^[3]; Nice, David J. ^[4]; Ransom, Scott M. ^[5]; Demorest, Paul B. ^[6]; Arzoumanian, Zaven ^[7]; Dolch, Timothy ^[8]; Ferdman, Robert D. ^[9]; Jones, Megan L.; McLaughlin, Maura A. ^[10]; Lam, Michael T. ^[11]; Levin, Lina ^[12]; Stovall, Kevin ^[13]; Swiggum, Joseph K. ^[14]; others, and

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1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, 6224 Agricultural Road, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1 (Canada)
2. Department of Astronomy, Columbia University, 550 W. 120th Street, New York, NY 10027 (United States)
3. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States)
4. Department of Physics, Lafayette College, Easton, PA 18042 (United States)
5. National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903 (United States)
6. National Radio Astronomy Observatory, P.O. Box 0, Socorro, NM 87801 (United States)
7. Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology, X-ray Astrophysics Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 662, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)
8. Department of Physics, Hillsdale College, 33 E. College Street, Hillsdale, MI 49242 (United States)
9. Department of Physics, McGill University, 3600 rue Universite, Montreal, QC H3A 2T8 (Canada)
10. Department of Physics, West Virginia University, P.O. Box 6315, Morgantown, WV 26505 (United States)
11. Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States)
12. Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL (United Kingdom)
13. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131 (United States)
14. Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI 53211 (United States)

We analyze 24 binary radio pulsars in the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) nine-year data set. We make 14 significant measurements of the Shapiro delay, including new detections in four pulsar-binary systems (PSRs J0613−0200, J2017+0603, J2302+4442, and J2317+1439), and derive estimates of the binary-component masses and orbital inclination for these MSP-binary systems. We find a wide range of binary pulsar masses, with values as low as m{sub p}=1.18{sub −0.09}{sup +0.10} M{sub ⊙} for PSR J1918−0642 and as high as m{sub p}=1.928{sub −0.017}{sup +0.017} M{sub ⊙} for PSR J1614−2230 (both 68.3% credibility). We make an improved measurement of the Shapiro timing delay in the PSR J1918−0642 and J2043+1711 systems, measuring the pulsar mass in the latter system to be m{sub p}=1.41{sub −0.18}{sup +0.21} M{sub ⊙} (68.3% credibility) for the first time. We measure secular variations of one or more orbital elements in many systems, and use these measurements to further constrain our estimates of the pulsar and companion masses whenever possible. In particular, we used the observed Shapiro delay and periastron advance due to relativistic gravity in the PSR J1903+0327 system to derive a pulsar mass of m{sub p}=1.65{sub −0.02}{sup +0.02} M{sub ⊙} (68.3% credibility). We discuss the implications that our mass measurements have on the overall neutron-star mass distribution, and on the “mass/orbital-period” correlation due to extended mass transfer.

• OSTI ID: 22868382
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 832; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
CORRELATIONS
DETECTION
GRAVITATIONAL WAVES
INCLINATION
MASS DISTRIBUTION
MASS TRANSFER
NEUTRON STARS
PULSARS
RELATIVISTIC RANGE
STAR EVOLUTION