English
Related papers

Related papers: Atmospheric Circulation on Black Widow Companions

200 papers

Black widow and redback systems are compact binaries in which a millisecond pulsar heats and may even ablate its low-mass companion by its intense wind of relativistic particles and radiation. In such systems, an intrabinary shock can form…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2020-12-02 Christian J. T. van der Merwe , Zorawar Wadiasingh , Christo Venter , Alice K. Harding , Matthew G. Baring

Pulsar winds have been shown to be preferred sites of particle acceleration and high-energy radiation. Numerous studies have been conducted to better characterize the general structure of such relativistic plasmas in isolated systems.…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2025-01-06 Valentina Richard-Romei , Benoît Cerutti

Accretion-induced collapse of massive white dwarfs (WDs) has been proposed to be an important channel to form binary millisecond pulsars (MSPs). Recent investigations on thermal timescale mass transfer in WD binaries demonstrate that the…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2015-06-23 Iminhaji Ablimit , Xiang-Dong Li

The most frequently seen binary companions to millisecond pulsars (MSPs) are helium white dwarfs (He WDs). The standard rejuvenation mechanism, in which a low- to intermediate-mass companion to a neutron star fills its Roche lobe between…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2017-10-04 Sarah L. Smedley , Christopher A. Tout , Lilia Ferrario , Dayal T. Wickramasinghe

We report on the determination of astrometric, spin and orbital parameters for PSR J1518+0204C, a "black widow" binary millisecond pulsar in the globular cluster M5. The accurate position and orbital parameters obtained from radio timing…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-22 C. Pallanca , S. M. Ransom , F. R. Ferraro , E. Dalessandro , B. Lanzoni , J. W. T. Hessels , I. Stairs , P. C. C. Freire

A large number of new "black widow" and "redback" energetic millisecond pulsars with irradiated stellar companions have been discovered through radio and optical searches of unidentified \textit{Fermi} sources. Synchrotron emission, from…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2016-02-23 Zorawar Wadiasingh , Alice K. Harding , Christo Venter , Markus Boettcher

I obtained time-series photometry of the compact binary candidate for the Fermi source 4FGL J0935.3+0901. Superposed on the 2.44 hr orbital modulation are day-to-day variations and frequent flaring as seen in several redback and black widow…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2022-07-19 J. P. Halpern

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…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2020-10-14 Pavan R. Hebbar , Craig O. Heinke , D. Kandel , Roger W. Romani , P. C. C. Freire

We consider the population of black widow pulsars (BWPs). The large majority of these are members of globular clusters. For minimum companion masses < 0.1 Msun, adiabatic evolution and consequent mass loss under gravitational radiation…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-11-10 A. R. King , M. E. Beer , D. J. Rolfe , K. Schenker , J. M. Skipp

We examine the growing data set of binary millisecond pulsars that are thought to have a helium white dwarf companion. These systems are believed to form when a low- to intermediate-mass companion to a neutron star fills its Roche lobe…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-17 Sarah L. Smedley , Christopher A. Tout , Lilia Ferrario , Dayal T. Wickramasinghe

In gamma-ray binaries neutron star is orbiting a companion that produces a strong stellar wind. We demonstrate that observed properties of "stellar wind"-"pulsar wind" interaction depend both on the overall wind thrust ratio, as well as…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2024-06-26 Maxim V. Barkov , Evgeniy Kalinin , Maxim Lyutikov

The population of millisecond pulsars (MSPs) has been expanded considerably in the last decade. Not only is their number increasing, but also various classes of them have been revealed. Among different classes of MSPs, the behaviour of…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2019-12-17 C. Y. Hui , K. L. Li

Blackwidow and redback systems are millisecond pulsars in compact orbits with ultra-light and low-mass companions, respectively, collectively known as ``spider pulsars". In such systems, an intrabinary shock can form between the pulsar and…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2025-10-30 Vittoria Vecchiotti , Manuel Linares

Recently, several eclipsing millisecond pulsars have been shown to experience strong and apparent weak lensing from the outflow of their ionized companions. Lensing can be a powerful probe of the ionized plasma, with the strongest lenses…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2022-12-07 Fang Xi Lin , Robert Main , Dylan Jow , Dongzi Li , Ue-Li Pen , Marten H. van Kerkwijk

We present the first multi-band optical light curves of PSR J1622-0315, among the most compact known redback binary millisecond pulsars, with an orbital period Porb=3.9 h. We find a flux modulation with two maxima per orbital cycle and a…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2023-09-06 Marco Turchetta , Manuel Linares , Karri Koljonen , Bidisha Sen

We report a detailed analysis of the orbital properties of binary millisecond pulsar (MSP) with a white dwarf (WD) companion. Positive correlations between the orbital period $P_{\rm b}$ and eccentricity $\epsilon$ are found in two classes…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2018-09-05 C. Y. Hui , Kinwah Wu , Qin Han , A. K. H. Kong , P. H. T. Tam

We describe the first X-ray observations of five short orbital period ($P_B < 1$ day), $\gamma$-ray emitting, binary millisecond pulsars. Four of these, PSRs J0023+0923, J1124$-$3653, J1810+1744, and J2256$-$1024 are `black-widow' pulsars,…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2015-06-16 P. Gentile , M. Roberts , M. McLaughlin , F. Camilo , J. Hessels , M. Kerr , S. Ransom , P. Ray , I. Stairs

We present simultaneous, multi-colour optical light curves of the companion star to the black-widow pulsar PSR J2051-0827, obtained approximately 10 years apart using ULTRACAM and HiPERCAM, respectively. The ULTRACAM light curves confirm…

Most millisecond pulsars with low-mass companions are in systems with either helium-core white dwarfs or non-degenerate ("black widow" or "redback") stars. A candidate counterpart to PSR J1816+4510 was identified by Kaplan et al. (2012)…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-15 David L. Kaplan , Varun B. Bhalerao , Marten H. van Kerkwijk , Detlev Koester , Shri R. Kulkarni , Kevin Stovall

We propose using radio line spectroscopy to detect molecular absorption lines (such as OH at 1.6-1.7 GHz) before and after the total eclipse of black widow (BW) and other short orbital period binary pulsars with low mass companions. The…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2017-06-15 Alak Ray , Abraham Loeb