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Register a new userThe evolution of helium white dwarfs: I. The companion of the millisecond pulsar PSR J1012+5307
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We present a grid of evolutionary tracks for low-mass white dwarfs with helium cores in the mass range from 0.179 to 0.414 Msol. The lower mass limit is well-suited for comparison with white dwarf companions of millisecond pulsars. The tracks are based on a 1 Msol model sequence extending from the pre-main sequence stage up to the tip of the red-giant branch. Applying large mass loss rates at appropriate positions forced the models to move off the giant branch. The further evolution was then followed across the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram and down the cooling branch. At maximum effective temperature the envelope masses above the helium cores increase from 0.6 to 5.4 x 10^{-3} Msol for decreasing mass. We carefully checked for the occurrence of thermal instabilities of the hydrogen shell by adjusting the computational time steps accordingly. Hydrogen flashes have been found to take place only in the mass interval 0.21 < M/Msol < 0.3. The models show that hydrogen shell burning contributes significantly to the luminosity budget of white dwarfs with helium cores. For very low masses the hydrogen shell luminosity remains to be dominant even down to effective temperatures well below 10000K. Accordingly, the corresponding cooling ages are significantly larger than those gained from model calculations which neglect nuclear burning or the white dwarf progenitor evolution. Using the atmospheric parameters of the white dwarf in the PSR J1012+5307 system we determined a mass of M=0.19 +/- 0.02 Msol and a cooling age of 6 +/- 1 Gyr, in good agreement with the spin-down age, 7 Gyr, of the pulsar.
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Binaries harbouring millisecond pulsars enable a unique path to determine neutron star masses: radio pulsations reveal the motion of the neutron star, while that of the companion can be characterised through studies in the optical range. PSR J1012+5307 is a millisecond pulsar in a 14.5-h orbit with a helium-core white dwarf companion. In this work we present the analysis of an optical spectroscopic campaign, where the companion star absorption features reveal one of the lightest known white dwarfs. We determine a white dwarf radial velocity semi-amplitude of K_2 = 218.9 +- 2.2 km/s, which combined with that of the pulsar derived from the precise radio timing, yields a mass ratio of q=10.44+- 0.11. We also attempt to infer the white dwarf mass from observational constraints using new binary evolution models for extremely low-mass white dwarfs, but find that they cannot reproduce all observed parameters simultaneously. In particular, we cannot reconcile the radius predicted from binary evolution with the measurement from the photometric analysis (R_WD=0.047+-0.003 Rsun). Our limited understanding of extremely low-mass white dwarf evolution, which results from binary interaction, therefore comes as the main factor limiting the precision with which we can measure the mass of the white dwarf in this system. Our conservative white dwarf mass estimate of M_WD = 0.165 +- 0.015 Msun, along with the mass ratio enables us to infer a pulsar mass of M_NS = 1.72 +- 0.16 Msun. This value is clearly above the canonical 1.4 Msun, therefore adding PSR J1012+5307 to the growing list of massive millisecond pulsars.
We present a grid of evolutionary tracks for low-mass white dwarfs with helium cores in the mass range from 0.179 to 0.414 M_sun. The lower mass limit is well suited for comparison with white dwarf companions of millisecond pulsars (MSP). The derived cooling ages are of the order of 10^9 yrs due to residual nuclear burning. The cooling ages are consistent with age estimations of MSP systems based on the pulsars spin-down. For example, for the system PSR 1012+5307 we derived a white dwarf cooling age of 6 +/-1 Gyr in good agreement with the spin-down age of 7 Gyr. For the companion mass we found M=0.19 +/- 0.02 M_sun. We studied other MSP systems as well selecting only systems with well given ages and/or masses, and determined the effective temperatures and surface gravities of the companion white dwarfs with the present evolutionary models.
We report on the high precision timing analysis of the pulsar-white dwarf binary PSR J1012+5307. Using 15 years of multi-telescope data from the European Pulsar Timing Array (EPTA) network, a significant measurement of the variation of the orbital period is obtained. Using this ideal strong-field gravity laboratory we derive theory independent limits for both the dipole radiation and the variation of the gravitational constant.
We have used phase-resolved high-resolution images and low resolution spectra taken at the ESO Very Large Telescope, to study the properties of the low-mass Helium White Dwarf companion to the millisecond pulsar psr (hereafter COM J1911$-$5958A), in the halo of the Galactic Globular Cluster NGC 6752. The radial velocity curve confirms that com is orbiting the pulsar and allows to derive a systemic velocity of the binary system nicely in agreement with that of NGC 6752. This strongly indicates that the system is a member of the cluster, despite its very offset position ($sim 74$ core radii) with respect to the core. Constraints on the orbital inclination ($gapp 70^circ$) and pulsar mass ($1.2-1.5 {rm M_odot}$) are derived from the mass ratio $M_{PSR}/M_{COM}= 7.49pm0.64$ and photometric properties of COM J1911$-$5958A. The light curve in B-band shows two phases of unequal brightening ($Delta$mag$sim 0.3$ and 0.2, respectively) located close to quadratures and superimposed on an almost steady baseline emission: this feature is quite surprising and needs to be further investigated.
Low-mass white dwarfs (LMWDs) are believed to be exclusive products of binary evolution, as the Universe is not yet old enough to produce them from single stars. Because of the strong tidal forces operating during the binary interaction phase, the remnant host systems observed today are expected to have negligible eccentricities. Here, we report on the first unambiguous identification of a LMWD in an eccentric (e=0.13) orbit with a millisecond pulsar, which directly contradicts this picture. We use our spectra and radio-timing solution (derived elsewhere) to infer the WD temperature T_eff = 8600 +/- 190 K) and 3D systemic velocity (179.5 kms). We also place model-independent constraints on the WD radius (R_WD = 0.024+/- 0.004/0.002 R_sun) and surface gravity (log g = 7.11 +/- 0.08/0.16 dex). The WD and kinematic properties are consistent with the expectations for low-mass X-ray binary evolution and disfavour a three-body formation channel. In the case of the high eccentricity being the result of a spontaneous phase transition, we infer a mass of 1.6 M_sun for the progenitor of the pulsar, which is too low for the quark-nova mechanism proposed by Jiang et al. (2015). Similarly, the scenario of Freire & Tauris (2014), in which a WD collapses onto a neutron star via an rotationally-delayed accretion-induced collapse, requires both a high-mass differentially rotating progenitor and a significant momentum kick at birth under our constraints. Contrarily, we find that eccentricity pumping via interaction with a transient circumbinary disk is consistent with all inferred properties. Finally, we report tentative evidence for pulsations which, if confirmed, would transform the star into an unprecedented laboratory for WD physics and stellar convection.
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