English

Optical spectral observations of three binary millisecond pulsars

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics 2023-07-11 v1 High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Abstract

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 TeffT_{\rm eff}==8600±\pm200 and 9600±\pm2000~K, respectively, while the J2302++4442 companion is significantly cooler, TeffT_{\rm eff}<<6000~K. We also estimated the distance to J0621++2514 of 1.1±\pm0.3 kpc and argue that its companion and the companion of J2317++1439 are He-core white dwarfs providing constraints on their cooling ages of \lesssim2 Gyr.

Keywords

Cite

@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}
}

Comments

9 pages, 8 figures. Paper accepted to MNRAS

R2 v1 2026-06-28T11:22:32.229Z