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Register a new userThe High Time Resolution Universe Pulsar Survey - XIII. PSR J1757-1854, the most accelerated binary pulsar
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We report the discovery of PSR J1757$-$1854, a 21.5-ms pulsar in a highly-eccentric, 4.4-h orbit around a neutron star (NS) companion. PSR J1757$-$1854 exhibits some of the most extreme relativistic parameters of any known pulsar, including the strongest relativistic effects due to gravitational-wave (GW) damping, with a merger time of 76 Myr. Following a 1.6-yr timing campaign, we have measured five post-Keplerian (PK) parameters, yielding the two component masses ($m_text{p}=1.3384(9),text{M}_odot$ and $m_text{c}=1.3946(9),text{M}_odot$) plus three tests of general relativity (GR), which the theory passes. The larger mass of the NS companion provides important clues regarding the binary formation of PSR J1757$-$1854. With simulations suggesting 3-$sigma$ measurements of both the contribution of Lense-Thirring precession to the rate of change of the semi-major axis and the relativistic deformation of the orbit within $sim7-9$ years, PSR J1757$-$1854 stands out as a unique laboratory for new tests of gravitational theories.
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We report the discovery and the results of follow-up timing observations of PSR J2045+3633 and PSR J2053+4650, two binary pulsars found in the Northern High Time Resolution Universe pulsar survey being carried out with the Effelsberg radio telescope. Having spin periods of 31.7 ms and 12.6 ms respectively, and both with massive white dwarf companions, $M_{c}, > , 0.8, M_{odot}$, the pulsars can be classified as mildly recycled. PSR J2045+3633 is remarkable due to its orbital period (32.3 days) and eccentricity $e, = , 0.01721244(5)$ which is among the largest ever measured for this class. After almost two years of timing the large eccentricity has allowed the measurement of the rate of advance of periastron at the 5-$sigma$ level, 0.0010(2)$^circ~rm yr^{-1}$. Combining this with a detection of the orthometric amplitude of the Shapiro delay, we obtained the following constraints on the component masses (within general relativity): $M_{p}, = , 1.33^{+0.30}_{-0.28}, M_{odot}$, and $M_{c}, = , 0.94^{+0.14}_{-0.13}, M_{odot}$. PSR J2053+4650 has a 2.45-day circular orbit inclined to the plane of the sky at an angle $i, = , 85.0^{+0.8}_{-0.9},{^circ}$. In this nearly edge-on case the masses can be obtained from the Shapiro delay alone. Our timing observations resulted in a significant detection of this effect giving: $M_{p}, = , 1.40^{+0.21}_{-0.18}, M_{odot}$, and $M_{c}, = , 0.86^{+0.07}_{-0.06}, M_{odot}$.
We have embarked on a survey for pulsars and fast transients using the 13-beam Multibeam receiver on the Parkes radio telescope. Installation of a digital backend allows us to record 400 MHz of bandwidth for each beam, split into 1024 channels and sampled every 64 us. Limits of the receiver package restrict us to a 340 MHz observing band centred at 1352 MHz. The factor of eight improvement in frequency resolution over previous multibeam surveys allows us to probe deeper into the Galactic plane for short duration signals such as the pulses from millisecond pulsars. We plan to survey the entire southern sky in 42641 pointings, split into low, mid and high Galactic latitude regions, with integration times of 4200, 540 and 270 s respectively. Simulations suggest that we will discover 400 pulsars, of which 75 will be millisecond pulsars. With ~30% of the mid-latitude survey complete, we have re-detected 223 previously known pulsars and discovered 27 pulsars, 5 of which are millisecond pulsars. The newly discovered millisecond pulsars tend to have larger dispersion measures than those discovered in previous surveys, as expected from the improved time and frequency resolution of our instrument.
We present relativistic analyses of 9257 measurements of times-of-arrival from the first binary pulsar, PSR B1913+16, acquired over the last thirty-five years. The determination of the Keplerian orbital elements plus two relativistic terms completely characterizes the binary system, aside from an unknown rotation about the line of sight; leading to a determination of the masses of the pulsar and its companion: 1.438 $pm$ 0.001 solar masses and 1.390 $pm$ 0.001 solar masses, respectively. In addition, the complete system characterization allows the creation of tests of relativistic gravitation by comparing measured and predicted sizes of various relativistic phenomena. We find that the ratio of observed orbital period decrease due to gravitational wave damping (corrected by a kinematic term) to the general relativistic prediction, is 0.9983 pm 0.0016; thereby confirming the existence and strength of gravitational radiation as predicted by general relativity. For the first time in this system, we have also successfully measured the two parameters characterizing the Shapiro gravitational propagation delay, and find that their values are consistent with general relativistic predictions. We have also measured for the first time in any system the relativistic shape correction to the elliptical orbit, $delta_{theta}$,although its intrinsic value is obscured by currently unquantified pulsar emission beam aberration. We have also marginally measured the time derivative of the projected semimajor axis, which, when improved in combination with beam aberration modelling from geodetic precession observations, should ultimately constrain the pulsars moment of inertia.
Pulsars in relativistic binary systems have emerged as fantastic natural laboratories for testing theories of gravity, the most prominent example being the double pulsar, PSR J0737$-$3039. The HTRU-South Low Latitude pulsar survey represents one of the most sensitive blind pulsar surveys taken of the southern Galactic plane to date, and its primary aim has been the discovery of new relativistic binary pulsars. Here we present our binary pulsar searching strategy and report on the surveys flagship discovery, PSR J1757$-$1854. A 21.5-ms pulsar in a relativistic binary with an orbital period of 4.4 hours and an eccentricity of 0.61, this double neutron star (DNS) system is the most accelerated pulsar binary known, and probes a relativistic parameter space not yet explored by previous pulsar binaries.
We have used millisecond pulsars (MSPs) from the southern High Time Resolution Universe (HTRU) intermediate latitude survey area to simulate the distribution and total population of MSPs in the Galaxy. Our model makes use of the scale factor method, which estimates the ratio of the total number of MSPs in the Galaxy to the known sample. Using our best fit value for the z-height, z=500 pc, we find an underlying population of MSPs of 8.3(pm 4.2)*10^4 sources down to a limiting luminosity of L_min=0.1 mJy kpc^2 and a luminosity distribution with a steep slope of dlog N/dlog L = -1.45(pm 0.14). However, at the low end of the luminosity distribution, the uncertainties introduced by small number statistics are large. By omitting very low luminosity pulsars, we find a Galactic population above L_min=0.2 mJy kpc^2 of only 3.0(pm 0.7)*10^4 MSPs. We have also simulated pulsars with periods shorter than any known MSP, and estimate the maximum number of sub-MSPs in the Galaxy to be 7.8(pm 5.0)*10^4 pulsars at L=0.1 mJy kpc^2. In addition, we estimate that the high and low latitude parts of the southern HTRU survey will detect 68 and 42 MSPs respectively, including 78 new discoveries. Pulsar luminosity, and hence flux density, is an important input parameter in the model. Some of the published flux densities for the pulsars in our sample do not agree with the observed flux densities from our data set, and we have instead calculated average luminosities from archival data from the Parkes Telescope. We found many luminosities to be very different than their catalogue values, leading to very different population estimates. Large variations in flux density highlight the importance of including scintillation effects in MSP population studies.
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