The mass of a millisecond pulsar
We report on nearly two years of timing observations of the low-mass binary millisecond pulsar, PSR J1909-3744 with the Caltech-Parkes-Swinburne Recorder II (CPSR2), a new instrument that gives unprecedented timing precision. Daily observations give a weighted rms residual of 74 ns, indicating an ex...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
Institute of Physics Publishing, Inc.
2005
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/41476 |
| _version_ | 1848756156523085824 |
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| author | Jacoby, B. Hotan, Aidan Bailes, M. Ord, Stephen Kulkarni, S. |
| author_facet | Jacoby, B. Hotan, Aidan Bailes, M. Ord, Stephen Kulkarni, S. |
| author_sort | Jacoby, B. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | We report on nearly two years of timing observations of the low-mass binary millisecond pulsar, PSR J1909-3744 with the Caltech-Parkes-Swinburne Recorder II (CPSR2), a new instrument that gives unprecedented timing precision. Daily observations give a weighted rms residual of 74 ns, indicating an extremely low level of systematic error. We have greatly improved upon the previous parallax and proper motion measurements of PSR J1909-3744, yielding a distance of 1.14 +0.04 −0.03 kpc and transverse velocity of (200 +7 −6) km s −1 . The system's orbital eccentricity is just 1.35(12)×10 −7 , the smallest yet recorded. Since their discovery, the masses of the rapidly rotating millisecond pulsars have remained a mystery, with the recycling hypothesis arguing for heavy objects, and the accretion-induced collapse of a white dwarf more consistent with neutron stars less than the Chandrashkar limit. Fortuitously, PSR J1909-3744 is an edge-on system, and our data have allowed the measurement of the range and shape of the Shapiro delay to high accuracy, giving the first precise determination of a millisecond pulsar mass to date, m p =(1.438±0.024) M☉. The mass of PSR J1909-3744 is at the upper edge of the range observed in mildly recycled pulsars in double neutron star systems, consistent with the the recycling hypothesis. It appears that the production of millisecond pulsars is possible with the accretion of less than 0.2 M☉. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:07:43Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-41476 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:07:43Z |
| publishDate | 2005 |
| publisher | Institute of Physics Publishing, Inc. |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-414762023-02-22T06:24:24Z The mass of a millisecond pulsar Jacoby, B. Hotan, Aidan Bailes, M. Ord, Stephen Kulkarni, S. We report on nearly two years of timing observations of the low-mass binary millisecond pulsar, PSR J1909-3744 with the Caltech-Parkes-Swinburne Recorder II (CPSR2), a new instrument that gives unprecedented timing precision. Daily observations give a weighted rms residual of 74 ns, indicating an extremely low level of systematic error. We have greatly improved upon the previous parallax and proper motion measurements of PSR J1909-3744, yielding a distance of 1.14 +0.04 −0.03 kpc and transverse velocity of (200 +7 −6) km s −1 . The system's orbital eccentricity is just 1.35(12)×10 −7 , the smallest yet recorded. Since their discovery, the masses of the rapidly rotating millisecond pulsars have remained a mystery, with the recycling hypothesis arguing for heavy objects, and the accretion-induced collapse of a white dwarf more consistent with neutron stars less than the Chandrashkar limit. Fortuitously, PSR J1909-3744 is an edge-on system, and our data have allowed the measurement of the range and shape of the Shapiro delay to high accuracy, giving the first precise determination of a millisecond pulsar mass to date, m p =(1.438±0.024) M☉. The mass of PSR J1909-3744 is at the upper edge of the range observed in mildly recycled pulsars in double neutron star systems, consistent with the the recycling hypothesis. It appears that the production of millisecond pulsars is possible with the accretion of less than 0.2 M☉. 2005 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/41476 10.1086/449311 Institute of Physics Publishing, Inc. unknown |
| spellingShingle | Jacoby, B. Hotan, Aidan Bailes, M. Ord, Stephen Kulkarni, S. The mass of a millisecond pulsar |
| title | The mass of a millisecond pulsar |
| title_full | The mass of a millisecond pulsar |
| title_fullStr | The mass of a millisecond pulsar |
| title_full_unstemmed | The mass of a millisecond pulsar |
| title_short | The mass of a millisecond pulsar |
| title_sort | mass of a millisecond pulsar |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/41476 |