Related papers: Constraints on Weak Supernova Kicks from Observed …
We study implications for the apparent alignment of the spin axes, proper-motions, and polarization vectors of the Crab and Vela pulsars. The spin axes are deduced from recent Chandra X-ray Observatory images that reveal jets and nebular…
We prove that the spin-aligned electromagnetic recoil force acting on a pulsar vanishes identically in Force-Free Electrodynamics. This contrasts with Hirai et al.'s recent argument that the rocket effect was important for explaining the…
The existence of pulsars with spin period below one millisecond is expected, though they have not been detected up to now. Their formation depends on the quantity of matter accreted from the companion which, in turn, is limited by the…
Recent timing observations of the double pulsar J0737-3039A/B have shown that its transverse velocity is extremely low, only 10 km/s, and nearly in the Plane of the Galaxy. With this new information, we rigorously re-examine the history and…
An important recent discovery by Pfahl et al. (2002) is that there are two classes of Be X-ray binaries: one with orbits of small eccentricity (<0.25), in which the neutron stars received hardly any kick velocity at birth and a class with…
The explosion of ultra-stripped stars in close binaries may explain new discoveries of weak and fast optical transients. We have demonstrated that helium star companions to neutron stars (NSs) may evolve into naked metal cores as low as…
We investigate an interesting new class of high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs) with long orbital periods (P_orb > 30 days) and low eccentricities (e <~ 0.2). The orbital parameters suggest that the neutron stars in these systems did not…
We use astrometric, distance and spindown data on pulsars to: (1) estimate three-dimensional velocity components, birth distances from the galactic plane, and ages of individual objects; (2) determine the distribution of space velocities…
If rotating core collapse leads to the formation of a proto-neutron star binary in super-close orbit, then the lighter star, propelled toward the minimum stable mass, explodes. The neutron star (or black hole) that remains acquires a…
We study observational constraints on neutron star (NS) kicks for isolated pulsars and for neutron stars in binary systems. We are particularly interested in the evidence of kick-spin alignment/misalignment and its dependence on the neutron…
We investigate whether the recently-observed population of high-velocity white dwarfs can be derived from a population of binaries residing initially within the thin disk of the Galaxy. In particular we consider binaries where the primary…
We model the dynamics of test binaries in isotropic, multi-mass models of galactic globular clusters. The evolution of binary orbits through the cluster potentials is modeled, including second order diffusion terms, and probabilities for…
The recent mass measurements of two binary millisecond pulsars, PSR J1614-2230 and PSR J0751+1807 with a mass M=1.97+/-0.04 Msun and M= 1.26 +/- 0.14 Msun, respectively, indicate a wide range of masses for such objects and possibly also a…
The formation of neutron stars is associated with powerful astrophysical transients such as supernovae. In many cases, asymmetries in the supernova explosions are thought to be responsible for the large observed velocities of neutron stars.…
We investigate whether stellar-mass black holes have to receive natal kicks in order to explain the observed distribution of low-mass X-ray binaries containing black holes within our Galaxy. Such binaries are the product of binary…
We investigate the birth and evolution of isolated radio pulsars using a population synthesis method, modeling the birth properties of the pulsars, their time evolution, and their detection in the Parkes and Swinburne Multibeam (MB)…
Rotation-powered radio pulsars are born with inferred initial rotation periods of order 300 ms (some as short as 20 ms) in core-collapse supernovae. In the traditional picture, this fast rotation is the result of conservation of angular…
We consider the formation of low-mass X-ray binaries containing accreting neutron stars via the helium-star supernova channel. The predicted relative number of short-period transients provides a sensitive test of the input physics in this…
For about half a century the radio pulsar population was observed to spin in the ~0.002-12s range, with different pulsar classes having a spin-period evolution that differs substantially depending on their magnetic fields or past accretion…
(abridged) Observations of very high speeds among pulsars in the Galactic disk present a puzzle regarding neutron stars in globular clusters. The inferred characteristic speed of single pulsars in the Galaxy is $\sim 5-10$ times as large as…