AMP
Home Astronomy Astronomers observe eclipses of pulsar PSR J0024−7204O

Astronomers observe eclipses of pulsar PSR J0024−7204O

0
Astronomers observe eclipses of pulsar PSR J0024−7204O


Plot of the heartbeat profile of PSR J0024−7204O throughout all the 17 h remark. Credit score: Abbate et al., 2024.

Utilizing the MeerKAT radio telescope, astronomers have noticed eclipses within the radio emission of a pulsar referred to as PSR J0024−7204O. Outcomes of the observational marketing campaign, published on the preprint server arXiv, may assist us higher perceive the character and habits of this pulsar.

Essentially the most quickly rotating pulsars, these with rotation intervals under 30 milliseconds, are referred to as millisecond pulsars (MSPs). Researchers assume that they’re fashioned in binary systems when the initially extra huge part turns right into a neutron star that’s then spun up as a result of accretion of matter from the secondary star.

A category of maximum binary pulsars with semi-degenerate companion stars is dubbed “spider pulsars.” These objects are additional categorized as “black widows” if the companion has extraordinarily low mass (lower than 0.1 solar lots), whereas they’re known as “redbacks” if the secondary star is heavier.

PSR J0024−7204O, or 47 Tuc O, is a black widow MSP within the globular cluster 47 Tucanae, with a spin interval of two.64 milliseconds. It’s a binary system with an orbital period of three.26 hours and a minimal companion mass of some 0.025 solar masses.

Earlier observations of PSR J0024−7204O have detected eclipses of its radio pulsations, and now a staff of astronomers led by Federico Abbate of the Cagliari Observatory in Italy has used MeerKAT to research the properties of those eclipses.

“We noticed the eclipsing black widow pulsar 47 Tuc O with the MeerKAT radio telescope at UHF band (544-1,088 MHz) for 17 hours, masking 6 contiguous orbits (however solely 5 full eclipses). Due to this remark we now have been in a position to examine intimately the properties of the eclipses and their variability over a succession of orbits,” the researchers wrote within the paper.

MeerKAT observations discovered that dispersion measure extra of PSR J0024−7204O reveals important eclipse-to-eclipse variations, throughout each the ingress and egress levels. This implies a better fuel density alongside the road of sight throughout the eclipsing area than within the surrounding orbital phases.

Moreover, the observations recognized robust scattering with time, which follows an analogous development to the dispersion measure. In accordance with the astronomers, it signifies that scattering is most probably the dominant mechanism that causes the eclipses, a minimum of in proximity of the ingress and egress areas.

The examine additionally discovered that the polarization of PSR J0024−7204O reveals a really important drop throughout each the ingress and egress transition levels. The authors of the paper concluded that this, along with a small improve within the rotation measure, suggests the presence of a magnetic discipline of about 2.0 mG.

Summing up the outcomes, the researchers famous that the period of the eclipses of PSR J0024−7204O is just like that of different black widow pulsars. Furthermore, the utmost dispersion measure extra is corresponding to that of the opposite eclipsing pulsars that have been noticed in an analogous frequency vary.

Extra data:
F. Abbate et al, Research of consecutive eclipses of pulsar J0024$-$7204O, arXiv (2024). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2407.15563

Journal data:
arXiv


© 2024 Science X Community

Quotation:
Astronomers observe eclipses of pulsar PSR J0024−7204O (2024, July 30)
retrieved 30 July 2024
from https://phys.org/information/2024-07-astronomers-eclipses-pulsar-psr-j00247204o.html

This doc is topic to copyright. Other than any honest dealing for the aim of personal examine or analysis, no
half could also be reproduced with out the written permission. The content material is supplied for data functions solely.





Source link

NO COMMENTS

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Exit mobile version