We present the results of optical spectroscopy of stellar companions to three binary millisecond pulsars, PSRs J0621+2514, J2317+1439 and J2302+4442, obtained with the Gran Telescopio Canarias. The spectrum of the J0621+2514 companion shows a blue continuum and prominent Balmer absorption lines. The latter are also resolved in the spectrum of the J2317+1439 companion, showing that both are DA-type white dwarfs. No spectral features are detected for the J2302+4442 companion, however, its broadband magnitudes and the spectral shape of the continuum emission imply that this is also a DA-type white dwarf. Based on the spectral analyses, we conclude that the companions of J0621+2514 and J2317+1439 are relatively hot, with effective temperatures Teff=8600±200 and 9600±2000~K, respectively, while the J2302+4442 companion is significantly cooler, Teff<6000~K. We also estimated the distance to J0621+2514 of 1.1±0.3 kpc and argue that its companion and the companion of J2317+1439 are He-core white dwarfs providing constraints on their cooling ages of ≲2 Gyr.
@article{arxiv.2307.02167,
title = {Optical spectral observations of three binary millisecond pulsars},
author = {A. V. Bobakov and A. V. Karpova and S. V. Zharikov and A. Yu. Kirichenko and Yu. A. Shibanov and D. A. Zyuzin},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2307.02167},
year = {2023}
}