The Einstein@home search for radio pulsars and PSR J2007+2722 discovery

Allen, B. et al. (2013) The Einstein@home search for radio pulsars and PSR J2007+2722 discovery. Astrophysical Journal, 773(2), (doi: 10.1088/0004-637X/773/2/91)

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Abstract

Einstein@Home aggregates the computer power of hundreds of thousands of volunteers from 193 countries, to search for new neutron stars using data from electromagnetic and gravitational-wave detectors. This paper presents a detailed description of the search for new radio pulsars using Pulsar ALFA survey data from the Arecibo Observatory. The enormous computing power allows this search to cover a new region of parameter space; it can detect pulsars in binary systems with orbital periods as short as 11 minutes. We also describe the first Einstein@Home discovery, the 40.8 Hz isolated pulsar PSR J2007+2722, and provide a full timing model. PSR J2007+2722's pulse profile is remarkably wide with emission over almost the entire spin period. This neutron star is most likely a disrupted recycled pulsar, about as old as its characteristic spin-down age of 404 Myr. However, there is a small chance that it was born recently, with a low magnetic field. If so, upper limits on the X-ray flux suggest but cannot prove that PSR J2007+2722 is at least ~100 kyr old. In the future, we expect that the massive computing power provided by volunteers should enable many additional radio pulsar discoveries.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Messenger, Dr Christopher
Authors: Allen, B., Knispel, B., Cordes, J.M., Deneva, J.S., Hessels, J.W.T., Anderson, D., Aulbert, C., Bock, O., Brazier, A., Chatterjee, S., Demorest, P.B., Eggenstein, H.B., Fehrmann, H., Gotthelf, E.V., Hammer, D., Kaspi, V.M., Kramer, M., Lyne, A.G., Machenschalk, B., McLaughlin, M.A., Messenger, C., Pletsch, H.J., Ransom, S.M., Stairs, I.H., Stappers, B.W., Bhat, N.D.R., Bogdanov, S., Camilo, F., Champion, D.J., Crawford, F., Desvignes, G., Freire, P.C.C., Heald, G., Jenet, F.A., Lazarus, P., Lee, K.J., van Leeuwen, J., Lynch, R., Papa, M.A., Prix, R., Rosen, R., Scholz, P., Siemens, X., Stovall, K., Venkataraman, A., and Zhu, W.
College/School:College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy
Journal Name:Astrophysical Journal
Publisher:IOP Publishing
ISSN:0004-637X
ISSN (Online):1538-4357

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