Binary Millisecond Pulsar Discovery via Gamma-Ray Pulsations
Abstract
Millisecond pulsars, old neutron stars spun-up by accreting matter from a companion star, can reach high rotation rates of hundreds of revolutions per second. Until now, all such "recycled" rotation-powered pulsars have been detected by their spin-modulated radio emission. In a computing-intensive blind search of gamma-ray data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope (with partial constraints from optical data), we detected a 2.5-millisecond pulsar, PSR J1311-3430. This unambiguously explains a formerly unidentified gamma-ray source that had been a decade-long enigma, confirming previous conjectures. The pulsar is in a circular orbit with an orbital period of only 93 minutes, the shortest of any spin-powered pulsar binary ever found.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1211.1385,
title = {Binary Millisecond Pulsar Discovery via Gamma-Ray Pulsations},
author = {H. J. Pletsch and L. Guillemot and H. Fehrmann and B. Allen and M. Kramer and C. Aulbert and M. Ackermann and M. Ajello and A. de Angelis and W. B. Atwood and L. Baldini and J. Ballet and G. Barbiellini and D. Bastieri and K. Bechtol and R. Bellazzini and A. W. Borgland and E. Bottacini and T. J. Brandt and J. Bregeon and M. Brigida and P. Bruel and R. Buehler and S. Buson and G. A. Caliandro and R. A. Cameron and P. A. Caraveo and J. M. Casandjian and C. Cecchi and Ö. Celik and E. Charles and R. C. G. Chaves and C. C. Cheung and J. Chiang and S. Ciprini and R. Claus and J. Cohen-Tanugi and J. Conrad and S. Cutini and F. D'Ammando and C. D. Dermer and S. W. Digel and P. S. Drell and A. Drlica-Wagner and R. Dubois and D. Dumora and C. Favuzzi and E. C. Ferrara and A. Franckowiak and Y. Fukazawa and P. Fusco and F. Gargano and N. Gehrels and S. Germani and N. Giglietto and F. Giordano and M. Giroletti and G. Godfrey and I. A. Grenier and M. -H. Grondin and J. E. Grove and S. Guiriec and D. Hadasch and Y. Hanabata and A. K. Harding and P. R. den Hartog and M. Hayashida and E. Hays and A. B. Hill and X. Hou and R. E. Hughes and G. Johannesson and M. S. Jackson and T. Jogler and A. S. Johnson and W. N. Johnson and J. Kataoka and M. Kerr and J. Knödlseder and M. Kuss and J. Lande and S. Larsson and L. Latronico and M. Lemoine-Goumard and F. Longo and F. Loparco and M. N. Lovellette and P. Lubrano and F. Massaro and M. Mayer and M. N. Mazziotta and J. E. McEnery and J. Mehault and P. F. Michelson and W. Mitthumsiri and T. Mizuno and M. E. Monzani and A. Morselli and I. V. Moskalenko and S. Murgia and T. Nakamori and R. Nemmen and E. Nuss and M. Ohno and T. Ohsugi and N. Omodei and M. Orienti and E. Orlando and F. de Palma and D. Paneque and J. S. Perkins and F. Piron and G. Pivato and T. A. Porter and S. Raino and R. Rando and P. S. Ray and M. Razzano and A. Reimer and O. Reimer and T. Reposeur and S. Ritz and R. W. Romani and C. Romoli and D. A. Sanchez and P. M. Saz Parkinson and A. Schulz and C. Sgro and E. do Couto e Silva and E. J. Siskind and D. A. Smith and G. Spandre and P. Spinelli and D. J. Suson and H. Takahashi and T. Tanaka and J. B. Thayer and J. G. Thayer and D. J. Thompson and L. Tibaldo and M. Tinivella and E. Troja and T. L. Usher and J. Vandenbroucke and V. Vasileiou and G. Vianello and V. Vitale and A. P. Waite and B. L. Winer and K. S. Wood and M. Wood and Z. Yang and S. Zimmer},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1211.1385},
year = {2012}
}
Comments
14 pages, 3 figures. Science Express (25 October 2012); in press