Transformation of a Star into a Planet in a Millisecond Pulsar Binary
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
2011-08-29 v1 Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Abstract
Millisecond pulsars are thought to be neutron stars that have been spun-up by accretion of matter from a binary companion. Although most are in binary systems, some 30% are solitary, and their origin is therefore mysterious. PSR J1719-1438, a 5.7 ms pulsar, was detected in a recent survey with the Parkes 64m radio telescope. We show that it is in a binary system with an orbital period of 2.2 h. Its companion's mass is near that of Jupiter, but its minimum density of 23 g cm suggests that it may be an ultra-low mass carbon white dwarf. This system may thus have once been an Ultra Compact Low-Mass X-ray Binary, where the companion narrowly avoided complete destruction.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1108.5201,
title = {Transformation of a Star into a Planet in a Millisecond Pulsar Binary},
author = {M. Bailes and S. D. Bates and V. Bhalerao and N. D. R. Bhat and M. Burgay and S. Burke-Spolaor and N. D'Amico and S. Johnsto and M. J. Keith and M. Kramer and S. R. Kulkarni and L. Levin and A. G. Lyne and S. Milia and A. Possenti and L. Spitler and B. Stappers and W. van Straten},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1108.5201},
year = {2011}
}
Comments
16 pages, 3 figures. Science Express, in press