Long-term study of the double pulsar J0737-3039 with XMM-Newton: pulsar timing
- INAF—Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari, Via della Scienza 5, I-09047—Selargius (Canada) (Italy)
- Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, The University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL (United Kingdom)
- Department of Physics, Purdue University, 525 Northwestern Avenue, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2036 (United States)
- University of Oxford—Department of Physics, Astrophysics—Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH (United Kingdom)
The relativistic double neutron star binary PSR J0737−3039 shows clear evidence of orbital phase-dependent wind-companion interaction, both in radio and X-rays. In this paper, we present the results of timing analysis of PSR J0737−3039 performed during 2006 and 2011 XMM-Newton Large Programs that collected ∼20,000 X-ray counts from the system. We detected pulsations from PSR J0737−3039A (PSR A) through the most accurate timing measurement obtained by XMM-Newton so far, the spin period error being of 2 × 10{sup −13} s. PSR A’s pulse profile in X-rays is very stable despite significant relativistic spin precession that occurred within the time span of observations. This yields a constraint on the misalignment between the spin axis and the orbital momentum axis δ{sub A}≈6.6{sub −5.4}{sup +1.3} deg, consistent with estimates based on radio data. We confirmed pulsed emission from PSR J0737−3039B (PSR B) in X-rays even after its disappearance in radio. The unusual phenomenology of PSR B’s X-ray emission includes orbital pulsed flux and profile variations as well as a loss of pulsar phase coherence on timescales of years. We hypothesize that this is due to the interaction of PSR A’s wind with PSR B’s magnetosphere and the orbital-dependent penetration of the wind plasma onto PSR B closed field lines. Finally, the analysis of the full XMM-Newton data set provided evidence of orbital flux variability (∼7%) for the first time, involving a bow-shock scenario between PSR A’s wind and PSR B’s magnetosphere.
- OSTI ID:
- 22868988
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 824, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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