Arecibo palfa survey and Einstein@home: binary pulsar discovery by volunteer computing

Knispel, B. et al. (2011) Arecibo palfa survey and Einstein@home: binary pulsar discovery by volunteer computing. Astrophysical Journal, 732(1), L1. (doi: 10.1088/2041-8205/732/1/L1)

Abstract

We report the discovery of the 20.7 ms binary pulsar J1952+2630, made using the distributed computing project Einstein@Home in Pulsar ALFA survey observations with the Arecibo telescope. Follow-up observations with the Arecibo telescope confirm the binary nature of the system. We obtain a circular orbital solution with an orbital period of 9.4 hr, a projected orbital radius of 2.8 lt-s, and a mass function of f = 0.15 M ☉ by analysis of spin period measurements. No evidence of orbital eccentricity is apparent; we set a 2σ upper limit e 1.7 × 10–3. The orbital parameters suggest a massive white dwarf companion with a minimum mass of 0.95 M ☉, assuming a pulsar mass of 1.4 M ☉. Most likely, this pulsar belongs to the rare class of intermediate-mass binary pulsars. Future timing observations will aim to determine the parameters of this system further, measure relativistic effects, and elucidate the nature of the companion star.

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