Radio Timing and Optical Photometry of the Black Widow System PSR J1953+1846A in the Globular Cluster M71

We report on the determination of the astrometric, spin and orbital parameters for PSR J1953+1846A, a "black widow" binary millisecond pulsar in the globular cluster M71. By using the accurate position and orbital parameters obtained from radio timing, we identified the optical companion in ACS/Hubble Space Telescope images. It turns out to be a faint (m_F606W>=24, m_F814W>=23) and variable star located at only ~0.06" from the pulsar timing position. The light curve shows a maximum at the pulsar inferior conjunction and a minimum at the pulsar superior conjunction, thus confirming the association with the system. The shape of the optical modulation suggests that the companion star is heated, likely by the pulsar wind. The comparison with the X-ray light curve possibly suggests the presence of an intra-binary shock due to the interaction between the pulsar wind and the material released by the companion. This is the second identification (after COM-M5C) of an optical companion to a black widow pulsar in a globular cluster. Interestingly, the two companions show a similar light curve and share the same position in the color magnitude diagram.Comment: Accepted for publication by ApJ; 33 Pages, 10 Figures, 3 Table

Radio timing and optical photometry of the black widow system PSR J1518+0204C in the globular cluster M5

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 allowed us to search for the optical companion. By using WFC3/HST images we identified a very faint variable star (m_F390W > 24.8, m_F606W > 24.3, m_F814W > 23.1) located at only 0.25" from the pulsar's timing position. Due to its strong variability, this star is visible only in a sub-sample of images. However, the light curve obtained folding the available data with the orbital parameters of the pulsar shows a maximum at the pulsar inferior conjunction and a possible minimum at the pulsar superior conjunction. Furthermore, the shape of the optical modulation indicates a heating process possibly due to the pulsar wind. This is the first identification of an optical companion to a black widow pulsar in the dense stellar environment of a globular cluster.Comment: Accepted for publication by ApJ; 24 Pages, 5 Figures, 1 Tabl

Timing of a Young Mildly Recycled Pulsar with a Massive White Dwarf Companion

We report on timing observations of the recently discovered binary pulsar PSR J1952+2630 using the Arecibo Observatory. The mildly recycled 20.7-ms pulsar is in a 9.4-hr orbit with a massive, M_WD > 0.93 M_sun, white dwarf (WD) companion. We present, for the first time, a phase-coherent timing solution, with precise spin, astrometric, and Keplerian orbital parameters. This shows that the characteristic age of PSR J1952+2630 is 77 Myr, younger by one order of magnitude than any other recycled pulsar-massive WD system. We derive an upper limit on the true age of the system of 50 Myr. We investigate the formation of PSR J1952+2630 using detailed modelling of the mass-transfer process from a naked helium star on to the neutron star following a common-envelope phase (Case BB Roche-lobe overflow). From our modelling of the progenitor system, we constrain the accretion efficiency of the neutron star, which suggests a value between 100 and 300% of the Eddington accretion limit. We present numerical models of the chemical structure of a possible oxygen-neon-magnesium WD companion. Furthermore, we calculate the past and the future spin evolution of PSR J1952+2630, until the system merges in about 3.4 Gyr due to gravitational wave emission. Although we detect no relativistic effects in our timing analysis we show that several such effects will become measurable with continued observations over the next 10 years; thus PSR J1952+2630 has potential as a testbed for gravitational theories.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures, to be published in MNRA

Discovery of three new millisecond pulsars in Terzan 5

We report on the discovery of three new millisecond pulsars (namely J1748-2446aj, J1748-2446ak and J1748-2446al) in the inner regions of the dense stellar system Terzan 5. These pulsars have been discovered thanks to a method, alternative to the classical search routines, that exploited the large set of archival observations of Terzan 5 acquired with the Green Bank Telescope over 5 years (from 2010 to 2015). This technique allowed the analysis of stacked power spectra obtained by combining ~206 hours of observation. J1748-2446aj has a spin period of ~2.96 ms, J1748-2446ak of ~1.89 ms (thus it is the fourth fastest pulsar in the cluster) and J1748-2446al of ~5.95 ms. All the three millisecond pulsars are isolated and currently we have timing solutions only for J1748-2446aj and J1748-2446ak. For these two systems, we evaluated the contribution to the measured spin-down rate of the acceleration due to the cluster potential field, thus estimating the intrinsic spin-down rates, which are in agreement with those typically measured for millisecond pulsars in globular clusters. Our results increase to 37 the number of pulsars known in Terzan 5, which now hosts 25% of the entire pulsar population identified, so far, in globular clusters.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures. ApJ (accepted

Amapá: nova cultivar de feijão caupi para o Amapá.

Introdução; Origem; Características; Resultados experimentais; Recomendações técnicas; Comercialização; Referências bibliograficas.bitstream/CPAF-AP/4295/1/comunicado_1999_022.pd