1. Discovery of a Young Radio Pulsar in a Relativistic Binary Orbit
- Author
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Andrea Possenti, Andrew Lyne, N. P. F. McKay, J. F. Bell, D. J. Morris, N. D'Amico, Fronefield Crawford, Victoria M. Kaspi, Fernando Camilo, Ingrid H. Stairs, and Richard N. Manchester
- Subjects
Physics ,Solar mass ,010308 nuclear & particles physics ,Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,Astrophysics (astro-ph) ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Binary number ,White dwarf ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Astrophysics ,01 natural sciences ,Orbit ,Neutron star ,Pulse period ,Pulsar ,Space and Planetary Science ,0103 physical sciences ,Astrophysics::Solar and Stellar Astrophysics ,Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,Magnetic dipole - Abstract
We report on the discovery of PSR J1141-6545, a radio pulsar in an eccentric, relativistic 5-hr binary orbit. The pulsar shows no evidence for being recycled, having pulse period P = 394 ms, characteristic age tau_c = 1.4 x 10^6 yr, and inferred surface magnetic dipole field strength B = 1.3 x 10^12 G. From the mass function and measured rate of periastron advance, we determine the total mass in the system to be (2.300 +/- 0.012) solar masses, assuming that the periastron advance is purely relativistic. Under the same assumption, we constrain the pulsar's mass to be M_p < 1.348 solar masses and the companion's mass to be M_c > 0.968 solar masses (both 99% confidence). Given the total system mass and the distribution of measured neutron star masses, the companion is probably a massive white dwarf which formed prior to the birth of the pulsar. Optical observations can test this hypothesis., 18 pages, 4 figures, Accepted for Publication in ApJ more...
- Published
- 2000
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