No Arabic abstract
We investigate the orbital dynamics of hierarchical three-body systems containing a double neutron star system orbiting around a massive black hole. These systems show complex dynamical behaviour because of relativistic coupling between orbits of the neutron stars in the double neutron star system and the orbit of the double neutron star system around the black hole. The orbital motion of the neutron stars around each other drives a loop mass current, which gives rise to gravito-magnetism. Generally, gravito-magnetism involves a rotating black hole. The hierarchical three-body system that we consider is an unusual situation in which black hole rotation is not required. Using a gravito-electromagnetic formulation, we calculate the orbital precession and nutation of the double neutron star system. These precession and nutation effects are observable, thus providing probes to the spacetime around black holes as well as tests of gravito-electromagnetism in the framework of general relativity.
To understand the nature of supernovae and neutron star (NS) formation, as well as binary stellar evolution and their interactions, it is important to probe the distribution of NS masses. Until now, all double NS (DNS) systems have been measured to have a mass ratio close to unity (q $geq$ 0.91). Here we report the measurement of the individual masses of the 4.07-day binary pulsar J0453+1559 from measurements of the rate of advance of periastron and Shapiro delay: The mass of the pulsar is 1.559(5) $M_{odot}$ and that of its companion is 1.174(4) $M_{odot}$; q = 0.75. If this companion is also a neutron star (NS), as indicated by the orbital eccentricity of the system (e=0.11), then its mass is the smallest precisely measured for any such object. The pulsar has a spin period of 45.7 ms and a spin derivative of 1.8616(7) x$10^-19$; from these we derive a characteristic age of ~ 4.1 x $10^9$ years and a magnetic field of ~ 2.9 x $10^9$ G,i.e, this pulsar was mildly recycled by accretion of matter from the progenitor of the companion star. This suggests that it was formed with (very approximately) its current mass. Thus NSs form with a wide range of masses, which is important for understanding their formation in supernovae. It is also important for the search for gravitational waves released during a NS-NS merger: it is now evident that we should not assume all DNS systems are symmetric.
We report on the results of a 4-year timing campaign of PSR~J2222$-0137$, a 2.44-day binary pulsar with a massive white dwarf (WD) companion, with the Nanc{c}ay, Effelsberg and Lovell radio telescopes. Using the Shapiro delay for this system, we find a pulsar mass $m_{p}=1.76,pm,0.06,M_odot$ and a WD mass $m_{c},=,1.293,pm,0.025, M_odot$. We also measure the rate of advance of periastron for this system, which is marginally consistent with the GR prediction for these masses. The short lifetime of the massive WD progenitor star led to a rapid X-ray binary phase with little ($< , 10^{-2} , M_odot$) mass accretion onto the neutron star (NS); hence, the current pulsar mass is, within uncertainties, its birth mass; the largest measured to date. We discuss the discrepancy with previous mass measurements for this system; we conclude that the measurements presented here are likely to be more accurate. Finally, we highlight the usefulness of this system for testing alternative theories of gravity by tightly constraining the presence of dipolar radiation. This is of particular importance for certain aspects of strong-field gravity, like spontaneous scalarization, since the mass of PSR~J2222$-0137$ puts that system into a poorly tested parameter range.
We report the discovery and initial follow-up of a double neutron star (DNS) system, PSR J1946$+$2052, with the Arecibo L-Band Feed Array pulsar (PALFA) survey. PSR J1946$+$2052 is a 17-ms pulsar in a 1.88-hour, eccentric ($e , =, 0.06$) orbit with a $gtrsim 1.2 , M_odot$ companion. We have used the Jansky Very Large Array to localize PSR J1946$+$2052 to a precision of 0.09 arcseconds using a new phase binning mode. We have searched multiwavelength catalogs for coincident sources but did not find any counterparts. The improved position enabled a measurement of the spin period derivative of the pulsar ($dot{P} , = , 9,pm , 2 ,times 10^{-19}$); the small inferred magnetic field strength at the surface ($B_S , = , 4 , times , 10^9 , rm G$) indicates that this pulsar has been recycled. This and the orbital eccentricity lead to the conclusion that PSR J1946$+$2052 is in a DNS system. Among all known radio pulsars in DNS systems, PSR J1946$+$2052 has the shortest orbital period and the shortest estimated merger timescale, 46 Myr; at that time it will display the largest spin effects on gravitational wave waveforms of any such system discovered to date. We have measured the advance of periastron passage for this system, $dot{omega} , = , 25.6 , pm , 0.3, deg rm yr^{-1}$, implying a total system mass of only 2.50 $pm$ 0.04 $M_odot$, so it is among the lowest mass DNS systems. This total mass measurement combined with the minimum companion mass constrains the pulsar mass to $lesssim 1.3 , M_odot$.
We investigate mass ejection from accretion disks formed in mergers of black holes (BHs) and neutron stars (NSs). The third observing run of the LIGO/Virgo interferometers provided BH-NS candidate events that yielded no electromagnetic (EM) counterparts. The broad range of disk configurations expected from BH-NS mergers motivates a thorough exploration of parameter space to improve EM signal predictions. Here we conduct 27 high-resolution, axisymmetric, long-term hydrodynamic simulations of the viscous evolution of BH accretion disks that include neutrino emission/absorption effects and post-processing with a nuclear reaction network. In the absence of magnetic fields, these simulations provide a lower-limit to the fraction of the initial disk mass ejected. We find a nearly linear inverse dependence of this fraction on disk compactness (BH mass over initial disk radius). The dependence is related to the fraction of the disk mass accreted before the outflow is launched, which depends on the disk position relative to the innermost stable circular orbit. We also characterize a trend of decreasing ejected fraction and decreasing lanthanide/actinide content with increasing disk mass at fixed BH mass. This trend results from a longer time to reach weak freezout and an increasingly dominant role of neutrino absorption at higher disk masses. We estimate the radioactive luminosity from the disk outflow alone available to power kilonovae over the range of configurations studied, finding a spread of two orders of magnitude. For most of the BH-NS parameter space, the disk outflow contribution is well below the kilonova mass upper limits for GW190814.
We report here the Einstein@Home discovery of PSR J1913+1102, a 27.3-ms pulsar found in data from the ongoing Arecibo PALFA pulsar survey. The pulsar is in a 4.95-hr double neutron star (DNS) system with an eccentricity of 0.089. From radio timing with the Arecibo 305-m telescope, we measure the rate of advance of periastron to be 5.632(18) deg/yr. Assuming general relativity accurately models the orbital motion, this corresponds to a total system mass of 2.875(14) solar masses, similar to the mass of the most massive DNS known to date, B1913+16, but with a much smaller eccentricity. The small eccentricity indicates that the second-formed neutron star (the companion of PSR J1913+1102) was born in a supernova with a very small associated kick and mass loss. In that case this companion is likely, by analogy with other systems, to be a light (1.2 solar mass) neutron star; the system would then be highly asymmetric. A search for radio pulsations from the companion yielded no plausible detections, so we cant yet confirm this mass asymmetry. By the end of 2016, timing observations should permit the detection of two additional post-Keplerian parameters: the Einstein delay, which will enable precise mass measurements and a verification of the possible mass asymmetry of the system, and the orbital decay due to the emission of gravitational waves, which will allow another test of the radiative properties of gravity. The latter effect will cause the system to coalesce in ~0.5 Gyr.