Pulsars lost and found: The second Princeton-Arecibo millisecond pulsar search

Thesis/Dissertation · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1989

OSTI ID:6597993

Fruchter, A S

A search has been performed for weak, nearby millisecond pulsars at the Arecibo 305 m telescope. The survey has covered more than 160 square degrees of sky centered on the galactic plane with a sensitivity several times greater than any previously millisecond pulsar search. Fifteen new pulsars have been found, including a 39.5 ms pulsar in the supernova remnant CTB 80, and a 1.6 ms pulsar in orbit with a low mass companion. While only three of the forty-seven pulsars detected in this survey have periods less than 10 ms, the low average flux of these three objects suggests that there may be as many millisecond pulsars in the galaxy as slow normal pulsars. At an observing frequency of 430 MH{sub z}, the new binary millisecond pulsar, PSR 1957 + 20, is eclipsed for 45 minutes of each 9 hour orbit. Timing observations imply a companion mass of only 0.02-0.04 solar masses. The eclipsing matter extends well beyond the Roche lobe of the companion and appears to possess a comet-like tail, strongly suggesting that the neutron star is evaporating its companion. This pulsar may therefore represent a missing link in the evolution of millisecond pulsars for binary to solitary stars. The optical observations of the system show a 20th magnitude visual object which varies greatly in apparent intensity over the course of an orbit. The data suggest that the companion is a hydrogen white dwarf and perhaps the least massive object directly observed outside of the solar system.

• Research Organization: Princeton Univ., NJ (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6597993
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640102* -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Stars & Quasi-Stellar
Radio & X-Ray Sources
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
BINARY STARS
COSMIC RADIO SOURCES
DETECTION
DWARF STARS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
IDENTIFICATION SYSTEMS
MASS
ORBITS
PULSARS
RADIATIONS
ROCHE EQUIPOTENTIALS
STAR EVOLUTION
STARS
SUPERNOVA REMNANTS
SURVEYS
VISIBLE RADIATION
WHITE DWARF STARS