Related papers: Intrabinary Shock Emission from Black Widows and R…
We address several issues regarding the interpretation of galactic \ggg-ray sources. We consider powerful pulsars in binaries producing X-ray and gamma-ray {\it unpulsed} emission from the shock interaction of relativistic pulsar winds with…
In spider pulsar systems, a relativistic intrabinary shock forms when the pulsar wind collides with the massive outflow driven off the pulsar's low-mass stellar companion. The shock is a site of non-thermal particle acceleration, likely via…
PSR J2215+5135 (J2215) is a `redback' spider pulsar, where the intrabinary shock (IBS) wraps around the pulsar rather than the stellar-mass companion. Spider orbital light curves are modulated, dominated by their binary companion thermal…
The discovery of transitional millisecond pulsars (tMSPs) provided conclusive proof that neutron star (NS) low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) comprise part of the evolutionary pathway towards binary millisecond pulsars (MSPs). Redback and…
We describe the first X-ray observations of binary millisecond pulsars PSRs J0023+0923, J1810+1744, J2215+5135, and J2256-1024. All four are Fermi gamma-ray sources and three are 'black-widow' pulsars, with companions of mass < 0.1 solar…
We report the radio observations of the eclipsing black widow pulsar J1720-0534, a 3.26 ms pulsar in orbit with a low mass companion of mass 0.029 to 0.034 M$_{\odot}$. We obtain the phase-connected timing ephemeris and polarization profile…
Redback millisecond pulsars (hereafter redbacks) are a sub-population of eclipsing millisecond pulsars in close binaries. The formation processes of these systems are not clear. The three pulsars showing transitions between rotation- and…
We report on Chandra observations of the black widow pulsar, PSR B1957+20. Evidence for a binary-phase dependence of the X-ray emission from the pulsar is found with a deep observation. The binary-phase resolved spectral analysis reveals…
Unpulsed, high-energy emission from pulsar binaries can be attributed to the interaction of a pulsar wind with that of a companion star. At the shock between the outflows, particles carried away from the pulsar magnetosphere are accelerated…
Reliable neutron star mass measurements are key to determining the equation-of-state of cold nuclear matter, but these are rare. "Black Widows" and "Redbacks" are compact binaries consisting of millisecond pulsars and semi-degenerate…
Redback millisecond pulsars (MSPs) typically show pronounced orbital variability in their X-ray emission due to our changing view of the intrabinary shock (IBS) between the pulsar wind and stellar wind from the companion. Some redbacks…
We investigated the multiband emission from the pulsar binaries XSS J12270-4859, PSR J2039-5617, and PSR J2339-0533, which exhibit orbital modulation in the X-ray and gamma-ray bands. We constructed the sources' broadband spectral energy…
In `spider' pulsars, the X-ray band is dominated by Intrabinary Shock (IBS) synchrotron emission. While the double-peaked X-ray light curves from these shocks have been well characterized in several spider systems (both black widows and…
We report on XMM-Newton observations of the "Black Widow pulsar", PSR B1957+20. The pulsar's X-ray emission is non-thermal and best modeled with a single powerlaw spectrum of photon index 2.03(+0.51/-0.36). No coherent X-ray pulsations at…
Black widows are extreme millisecond pulsar binaries where the pulsar wind ablates their low-mass companion stars. Their optical light curves vary periodically due to the high irradiation and tidal distortion of the companion, which allows…
Pulsar winds interacting with sources of external pressure are well-established as efficient and prolific TeV accelerators in our Galaxy. Yet, enabled by observations from Fermi-LAT, a growing class of non-accreting pulsars in binaries has…
Over a dozen millisecond pulsars are ablating low-mass companions in close binary systems. In the original "black widow", the 8-hour orbital period eclipsing pulsar PSR J1959+2048 (PSR B1957+20), high energy emission originating from the…
This chapter provides a phenomenological appraisal of the high-energy emission of millisecond pulsars. We comment on some of their properties as a population, as well as consider the especial cases of transitional pulsars, other redbacks,…
Eclipsing pulsar binaries and binaries with a high mass companion are ideal systems for studying and understanding the properties of plasma in magneto-ionic environments. In this work, the first paper of a series, we present MeerKAT…
PSR J2129-0429 is a "redback" eclipsing millisecond pulsar binary with an unusually long 15.2 hour orbit. It was discovered by the Green Bank Telescope in a targeted search of unidentified Fermi gamma-ray sources. The pulsar companion is…