TWO MILLISECOND PULSARS DISCOVERED BY THE PALFA SURVEY AND A SHAPIRO DELAY MEASUREMENT

We present two millisecond pulsar discoveries from the PALFA survey of the Galactic plane with the Arecibo telescope. PSR J1955+2527 is an isolated pulsar with a period of 4.87 ms, and PSR J1949+3106 has a period of 13.14 ms and is in a 1.9 day binary system with a massive companion. Their timing so...

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Published in:The Astrophysical journal 2012-09, Vol.757 (1), p.1-10
Main Authors: DENEVA, J. S, FREIRE, P. C. C, BHAT, N. D. R, BOGDANOV, S, BRAZIER, A, CHAMPION, D. J, CHATTERJEE, S, CRAWFORD, F, DESVIGNES, G, HESSELS, J. W. T, JENET, F. A, KASPI, V. M, CORDES, J. M, KNISPEL, B, KRAMER, M, LAZARUS, P, VAN LEEUWEN, J, LORIMER, D. R, LYNCH, R. S, MCLAUGHLIN, M. A, SCHOLZ, P, SIEMENS, X, STAPPERS, B. W, LYNE, A. G, STOVALL, K, VENKATARAMAN, A, RANSOM, S. M, COGNARD, I, CAMILO, F, NICE, D. J, STAIRS, I. H, ALLEN, B
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ASTRONOMY
ASTROPHYSICS
ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
Banks
Confidence intervals
Delay
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
GENERAL RELATIVITY THEORY
INCLINATION
MASS
MATHEMATICAL SOLUTIONS
Millisecond pulsars
PHOTOMETRY
Physics
PROPER MOTION
PULSARS
Sciences of the Universe
SPIN
TELESCOPES
Time measurements
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Summary:We present two millisecond pulsar discoveries from the PALFA survey of the Galactic plane with the Arecibo telescope. PSR J1955+2527 is an isolated pulsar with a period of 4.87 ms, and PSR J1949+3106 has a period of 13.14 ms and is in a 1.9 day binary system with a massive companion. Their timing solutions, based on 4 years of timing measurements with the Arecibo, Green Bank, Nancay, and Jodrell Bank telescopes, allow precise determination of spin and astrometric parameters, including precise determinations of their proper motions. For PSR J1949+3106, we can clearly detect the Shapiro delay. From this we measure the pulsar mass to be 1.47 super(+43) sub(-0.31) M sub([middot in circle]), the companion mass to be 0.85 super(+0.14) sub(-0.11) M sub([middot in circle]), and the orbital inclination to be i = 79.9 super(-1.9) sub(+1.6) deg, where uncertainties correspond to + or - 1[sigma] confidence levels. With continued timing, we expect to also be able to detect the advance of periastron for the J1949+3106 system. This effect, combined with the Shapiro delay, will eventually provide very precise mass measurements for this system and a test of general relativity.
ISSN:0004-637X
1538-4357
DOI:10.1088/0004-637X/757/1/89