PSR J1756-2251: a pulsar with a low-mass neutron star companion

R. D. Ferdman 1 I. H. Stairs 2 M. Kramer 3 G. H. Janssen 4, 5 C. G. Bassa 5, 4 B. W. Stappers 5 P. B. Demorest 6 Ismaël Cognard 1, 7 G. Desvignes 3 Gilles Theureau 7, 8, 1 M. Burgay 9 A. G. Lyne 10 R. N. Manchester 11 A. Possenti 9
1 USN - Unité Scientifique de la Station de Nançay
2 Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia
3 MPIFR - Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie
4 ASTRON - Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy
5 Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics
6 NRAO - National Radio Astronomy Observatory [Socorro]
7 LPC2E - Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l'Environnement et de l'Espace
8 LUTH (UMR_8102) - Laboratoire Univers et Théories
9 OAC - INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari
10 Jodrell Bank Observatory
11 CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science
Abstract : The pulsar PSR J1756$-$2251 resides in a relativistic double neutron star (DNS) binary system with a 7.67-hr orbit. We have conducted long-term precision timing on more than 9 years of data acquired from five telescopes, measuring five post-Keplerian parameters. This has led to several independent tests of general relativity (GR), the most constraining of which shows agreement with the prediction of GR at the 4% level. Our measurement of the orbital decay rate disagrees with that predicted by GR, likely due to systematic observational biases. We have derived the pulsar distance from parallax and orbital decay measurements to be 0.73$_{-0.24}^{+0.60}$ kpc (68%) and < 1.2 kpc (95% upper limit), respectively; these are significantly discrepant from the distance estimated using Galactic electron density models. We have found the pulsar mass to be 1.341$\pm$0.007 M$_\odot$, and a low neutron star (NS) companion mass of 1.230$\pm$0.007 M$_\odot$. We also determined an upper limit to the spin-orbit misalignment angle of 34{\deg} (95%) based on a system geometry fit to long-term profile width measurements. These and other observed properties have led us to hypothesize an evolution involving a low mass loss, symmetric supernova progenitor to the second-formed NS companion, as is thought to be the case for the double pulsar system PSR J0737$-$3039A/B. This would make PSR J1756$-$2251 the second compact binary system providing concrete evidence for this type of NS formation channel.
Keywords : PSR J1756−2251 evolution pulsars general stars binaries individual general pulsars
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R. D. Ferdman, I. H. Stairs, M. Kramer, G. H. Janssen, C. G. Bassa, et al.. PSR J1756-2251: a pulsar with a low-mass neutron star companion. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Oxford University Press (OUP): Policy P - Oxford Open Option A, 2014, 443 (3), pp.2183-2196. ⟨10.1093/mnras/stu1223⟩. ⟨insu-01255905⟩

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