Gemini optical observations of binary millisecond pulsars
Date Issued
2015
Author(s)
Description
We thank the anonymous referee for his/her constructive comments to the manuscript. We are grateful to Dr. Achille Nucita (University of Salento, Lecce, Italy) for his advice in the variability analysis. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Commission Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no. 267251. This research is part of the project COSMIC-LAB funded by the European Research Council (under contract ERC-2010-AdG-267675). This research is based on observations obtained at the Gemini Observatory, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under a cooperative agreement with the NSF on behalf of the Gemini partnership: the National Science Foundation (United States), the National Research Council (Canada), CONICYT (Chile), the Australian Research Council (Australia), Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação (Brazil) and Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Productiva (Argentina). This research has made use of the APASS data base, located at the AAVSO web site. Funding for APASS has been provided by the Robert Martin Ayers Sciences Fund.
Abstract
Millisecond pulsars (MSPs) are rapidly spinning neutron stars, with spin periods Ps ≲ 10 ms, which have been most likely spun up after a phase of matter accretion from a companion star. In this work, we present the results of the search for the companion stars of four binary MSPs, carried out with archival data from the Gemini South telescope. Based upon a very good positional coincidence with the pulsar radio coordinates, we likely identified the companion stars to three MSPs, namely PSR J0614-3329 (g = 21.95 ± 0.05), J1231-1411 (g = 25.40 ± 0.23), and J2017+0603 (g = 24.72 ± 0.28). For the last pulsar (PSR J0613-0200) the identification was hampered by the presence of a bright star (g = 16 ± 0.03) at ̃2 arcsec from the pulsar radio coordinates and we could only set 3σ upper limits of g = 25.0, r = 24.3, and i = 24.2 on the magnitudes of its companion star. The candidate companion stars to PSR J0614-3329, J1231-1411, and J2017+0603 can be tentatively identified as He white dwarfs (WDs) on the basis of their optical colours and brightness and the comparison with stellar model tracks. From the comparison of our multiband photometry with stellar model tracks we also obtained possible ranges on the mass, temperature, and gravity of the candidate WD companions to these three MSPs. Optical spectroscopy observations are needed to confirm their possible classification as He WDs and accurately measure their stellar parameters.
Volume
453
Issue
4
Start page
4159
Issn Identifier
0035-8711
Ads BibCode
2015MNRAS.453.4159T
Rights
open.access
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
![Thumbnail Image]()
Loading...
Name
1508.04780.pdf
Description
preprint
Size
2.48 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
47bc6d43367f2eea3256bdc2ca06ef1e
Loading...
Name
stv1908.pdf
Description
PDF editoriale
Size
3.05 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
e7e5e4e194c5895a0dfcd70b34e57250