A new technique for timing the double pulsar system

Abstract

In 2004, McLaughlin et al. discovered a phenomenon in the radio emission of PSR J0737-3039B (B) that resembles drifting sub-pulses. The repeat rate of the sub-pulses is equal to the spin frequency of PSR J0737-3039A (A); this led to the suggestion that they are caused by incidence upon B's magnetosphere of electromagnetic radiation from A. Here we describe a geometrical model which predicts the delay of B's sub-pulses relative to A's radio pulses. We show that measuring these delays is equivalent to tracking A's rotation from the point of view of an hypothetical observer located near B. This has three main astrophysical applications: (a) to determine the sense of rotation of A relative to its orbital plane; (b) to estimate where in B's magnetosphere the radio sub-pulses are modulated and (c) to provide an independent estimate of the mass ratio of A and B. The latter might improve existing tests of gravitational theories using this system.

Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 9 pages in emulated MNRAS format, 3 figures

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Cited by in corpus (7)

• The Evolution of PSR J0737-3039B and a Model for Relativistic Spin Precession
• The Double Pulsar Eclipses I: Phenomenology and Multi-frequency Analysis
• PSR J0737-3039B: A probe of radio pulsar emission heights
• Understanding and improving the timing of PSR J0737-3039B
• Testing the rotating lighthouse model with the double pulsar system PSR J0737-3039A/B
• A direct measurement of sense of rotation of PSR J0737$-$3039A
• Specific Features of Reflection of Radiation of a Compact Source Rotating about its Axis