An Eccentric Binary Millisecond Pulsar in the Galactic Plane

Authors :: Champion, D. J.
Ransom, S. M.
Lazarus, P.
Camilo, F.
Bassa, C.
Kaspi, V. M.
Nice, D. J.
Freire, P. C. C.
Stairs, I. H.
van Leeuwen, J.
Stappers, B. W.
Cordes, J. M.
Hessels, J. W. T.
Lorimer, D. R.
Arzoumanian, Z.
Backer, D. C.
Bhat, N. D. R.
Chatterjee, S.
Cognard, I.
Deneva, J. S.
Faucher-Giguere, C. -A.
Gaensler, B. M.
Han, J. L.
Jenet, F. A.
Kasian, L.
Kondratiev, V. I.
Kramer, M.
Lazio, J.
McLaughlin, M. A.
Venkataraman, A.
Vlemmings, W.
Publication Year :: 2008
Abstract: Binary pulsar systems are superb probes of stellar and binary evolution and the physics of extreme environments. In a survey with the Arecibo telescope, we have found PSR J1903+0327, a radio pulsar with a rotational period of 2.15 ms in a highly eccentric (e = 0.44) 95-day orbit around a solar mass companion. Infrared observations identify a possible main-sequence companion star. Conventional binary stellar evolution models predict neither large orbital eccentricities nor main-sequence companions around millisecond pulsars. Alternative formation scenarios involve recycling a neutron star in a globular cluster then ejecting it into the Galactic disk or membership in a hierarchical triple system. A relativistic analysis of timing observations of the pulsar finds its mass to be 1.74+/-0.04 Msun, an unusually high value.<br />Comment: 28 pages, 4 figures inc Supplementary On-Line Material. Accepted for publication in Science, published on Science Express: 10.1126/science.1157580

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