An Eccentric Binary Millisecond Pulsar in the Galactic Plane

Abstract

Binary pulsar systems are superb probes of stellar and binary evolution and the physics of extreme environments. In a survey with the Arecibo telescope, we have found PSR J1903+0327, a radio pulsar with a rotational period of 2.15 ms in a highly eccentric (e = 0.44) 95-day orbit around a solar mass companion. Infrared observations identify a possible main-sequence companion star. Conventional binary stellar evolution models predict neither large orbital eccentricities nor main-sequence companions around millisecond pulsars. Alternative formation scenarios involve recycling a neutron star in a globular cluster then ejecting it into the Galactic disk or membership in a hierarchical triple system. A relativistic analysis of timing observations of the pulsar finds its mass to be 1.74+/-0.04 Msun, an unusually high value.

28 pages, 4 figures inc Supplementary On-Line Material. Accepted for publication in Science, published on Science Express: 10.1126/science.1157580

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Cited by in corpus (4)

• Constraints on a phenomenologically parameterized neutron-star equation of state
• Implications of a VLBI Distance to the Double Pulsar J0737-3039A/B
• PSR J1753-2240: A mildly recycled pulsar in an eccentric binary system
• Ruling out Kozai resonance in highly eccentric galactic binary millisecond pulsar PSR J1903+0327