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http://hdl.handle.net/2289/1717
Title: | Arecibo pulsar survey using ALFA. II. the young, highly relativistic binary pulsar J1906+0746 |
Authors: | Lorimer, D.R. Stairs, I.H. Freire, P.C.C. Deshpande, A.A. Ramachandran, R. |
Keywords: | Stars: Pulsars: General pulsars: individual (PSR J1906+0746) |
Issue Date: | 20-Mar-2006 |
Publisher: | The University of Chicago Press for the American Astronomical Society |
Citation: | Astrophysical Journal, 2006, Vol.640, p 428-434 |
Abstract: | We report the discovery of PSR J1906+0746, a young 144 ms pulsar in a highly relativistic 3.98 hr orbit with an eccentricity of 0.085 and expected gravitational wave coalescence time of ~300 Myr. The new pulsar was found during precursor survey observations with the Arecibo 1.4 GHz feed array system and retrospectively detected in the Parkes Multibeam plane pulsar survey data. From radio follow-up observations with Arecibo, Jodrell Bank, Green Bank, and Parkes, we have measured the spin-down and binary parameters of the pulsar and its basic spectral and polarization properties. We also present evidence for pulse profile evolution, which is likely due to geodetic precession, a relativistic effect caused by the misalignment of the pulsar spin and total angular momentum vectors. Our measurements show that PSR J1906+0746 is a young object with a characteristic age of 112 kyr. From the measured rate of orbital periastron advance (7.57d+/-0.03d yr-1), we infer a total system mass of 2.61+/-0.02 Msolar. While these parameters suggest that the PSR J1906+0746 binary system might be a younger version of the double pulsar system, intensive searches for radio pulses from the companion have so far been unsuccessful. It is therefore not known whether the companion is another neutron star or a massive white dwarf. Regardless of the nature of the companion, a simple calculation suggests that the Galactic birthrate of binaries similar to PSR J1906+0746 is ~60 Myr-1. This implies that PSR J1906+0746 will make a significant contribution to the computed cosmic inspiral rate of compact binary systems. |
Description: | Restricted Access. Articles older than 2 years are open to all at the journal site (alternative location). An open access version is available at arXiv.org. |
URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/2289/1717 |
ISSN: | 0004-637X 1538-4357 (online) |
Alternative Location: | http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/bib_query?2006ApJ...640..428L http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0511523 http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/499918 |
Copyright: | (2006) by the American Astronomical Society. |
Appears in Collections: | Research Papers (A&A) |
Files in This Item:
File | Description | Size | Format | |
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2006 ApJ640p428.pdf Restricted Access | Restricted Access | 186.35 kB | Adobe PDF | View/Open Request a copy |
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