The Proper Motion of the Galactic Center Pulsar Relative to Sagittarius A*

Abstract

We measure the proper motion of the pulsar PSR J1745-2900 relative to the Galactic Center massive black hole, Sgr A*, using the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA). The pulsar has a transverse velocity of 236 +/- 11 km s^-1 at position angle 22 +/- 2 deg East of North at a projected separation of 0.097 pc from Sgr A*. Given the unknown radial velocity, this transverse velocity measurement does not conclusively prove that the pulsar is bound to Sgr A*; however, the probability of chance alignment is very small. We do show that the velocity and position is consistent with a bound orbit originating in the clockwise disk of massive stars orbiting Sgr A* and a natal velocity kick of <~ 500 km s^-1. An origin among the isotropic stellar cluster is possible but less probable. If the pulsar remains radio-bright, multi-year astrometry of PSR J1745-2900 can detect its acceleration and determine the full three-dimensional orbit. We also demonstrate that PSR J1745-2900 exhibits the same angular broadening as Sgr A* over a wavelength range of 3.6 cm to 0.7 cm, further confirming that the two sources share the same interstellar scattering properties. Finally, we place the first limits on the presence of a wavelength-dependent shift in the position of Sgr A*, i.e., the core shift, one of the expected properties of optically-thick jet emission. Our results for PSR J1745-2900 support the hypothesis that Galactic Center pulsars will originate from the stellar disk and deepens the mystery regarding the small number of detected Galactic Center pulsars.

Arxiv submission has been updated based on published erratum. ICRF positions reported for the magnetar are correct as reported in the original paper but relative positions are adjusted by (+18.36, -32.0) mas. Tables 2 and 4 and Figure 1 have been updated accordingly. Proper motion, acceleration, and core shift values are unaffected. There are no changes in the interpretation of the results

References in corpus (19)

• Event-horizon-scale structure in the supermassive black hole candidate at the Galactic Centre
• The Two Young Star Disks in the Central Parsec of the Galaxy: Properties, Dynamics and Formation
• Stellar remnants in galactic nuclei: mass segregation
• A Catalog of X-ray Point Sources from Two Megaseconds of Chandra Observations of the Galactic Center
• Properties of the Remnant Clockwise Disk of Young Stars in the Galactic Center
• Micro-Arcsecond Radio Astrometry
• Flaring Activity of Sgr A* at 43 and 22 GHz: Evidence for Expanding Hot Plasma
• Detecting Dark Matter with Imploding Pulsars in the Galactic Center
• Discovery of two pulsars towards the Galactic Centre
• Timing and Flux Evolution of the Galactic Center Magnetar SGR J1745-2900
• Jet-lag in Sgr A*: What size and timing measurements tell us about the central black hole in the Milky Way
• A VLT/FLAMES survey for massive binaries in Westerlund 1. IV. Wd1-5 - binary product and a pre-supernova companion for the magnetar CXOU J1647-45?
• A Catalog of Diffuse X-ray-Emitting Features within 20 pc of Sgr A*: Twenty Pulsar Wind Nebulae?
• The Intrinsic Two-Dimensional Size of Sagittarius A*
• The Galactic centre pulsar population
• Discovery of Substructure in the Scatter-Broadened Image of Sgr A*
• The most massive progenitors of neutron stars: CXO J164710.2-455216
• On the Existence of Pulsars in the Vicinity of the Massive Black Hole in the Galactic Center
• Limits on the Position Wander of Sgr A*

Cited by in corpus (52)

• A New Electron Density Model for Estimation of Pulsar and FRB Distances
• First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. II. Array and Instrumentation
• Magnetars: Properties, Origin and Evolution
• Systematic study of magnetar outbursts
• BlackHoleCam: fundamental physics of the Galactic center
• A Quantitative Test of the No-Hair Theorem with Sgr A* using stars, pulsars, and the Event Horizon Telescope
• The Scattering and Intrinsic Structure of Sagittarius A* at Radio Wavelengths
• Detection of intrinsic source structure at ~3 Schwarzschild radii with Millimeter-VLBI observations of SAGITTARIUS A*
• ALMA Polarimetry of Sgr A*: Probing the Accretion Flow from the Event Horizon to the Bondi Radius
• Magnetars: a short review and some sparse considerations
• Large magnetic field variations towards the Galactic Centre magnetar, PSR J1745-2900
• A Large Scale Magneto-ionic Fluctuation in the Local Environment of Periodic Fast Radio Burst Source, FRB 20180916B
• Detection of the magnetar SGR J1745-2900 up to 291 GHz with evidence of polarized millimetre emission
• The X-ray outburst of the Galactic Centre magnetar SGR J1745-2900 during the first 1.5 year
• Pulse Morphology of the Galactic Center Magnetar PSR J1745-2900
• Stochastic Optics: A Scattering Mitigation Framework for Radio Interferometric Imaging
• A Search for Axionic Dark Matter Using the Magnetar PSR J1745-2900
• Simultaneous Multi-band Radio & X-ray Observations of the Galactic Center Magnetar SGR 1745$-$2900
• Locating the intense interstellar scattering towards the inner Galaxy
• Multiwavelength study of the flaring activity of Sgr A* in 2014 February-April
• Spatial dispersion of light rays propagating through a plasma in Kerr spacetime
• A magnetar parallax
• Asymmetric structure in Sgr A* at 3mm from closure phase measurements with VLBA, GBT and LMT
• Testing General Relativity with the Black Hole Shadow Size and Asymmetry of Sagittarius A*: Limitations from Interstellar Scattering
• FRB Energetics and Sources
• Persistent Non-Gaussian Structure in the Image of Sagittarius A* at 86 GHz
• An 86-GHz search for Pulsars in the Galactic Center with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array
• Multi-wavelength Variability of Sagittarius A* in July 2019
• Accretion of Magnetized Stellar Winds in the Galactic Centre: Implications for Sgr A* and PSR J1745-2900
• Gravitomagnetism and Pulsar Beam Precession near a Kerr Black Hole
• Light Deflection Angle by Superentropic Black Holes
• Observations of Radio Magnetars with the Deep Space Network
• Radio Continuum Emission from the Magnetar SGR J1745-2900: Interaction with Gas Orbiting Sgr A*
• Superentropic Black Hole Shadows in Arbitrary Dimensions
• Detection of a dense group of hyper-compact radio sources in the central parsec of the Galaxy
• The X-ray outburst of the Galactic Center magnetar over six years of Chandra observations
• First Space-VLBI Observations of Sagittarius A*
• Micro-arcsecond structure of Sagittarius A* revealed by high-sensitivity 86 GHz VLBI observations
• Evolution of Supernova Remnants near the Galactic Center
• $4-8\mathrm{GHz}$ Spectro-temporal Emission from the Galactic Center Magnetar $\mathrm{PSR}J1745-2900$
• VLA Observations of Single Pulses from the Galactic Center Magnetar
• Single-pulse observations of the Galactic Center magnetar PSR J1745$-$2900 at 3.1 GHz
• A transient, flat spectrum radio pulsar near the Galactic centre
• Searching for Magnetar Binaries Disrupted by Core-Collapse Supernovae
• A Milliarcsecond-accurate Position for Sagittarius A*
• Rotation Measure synthesis study and polarized properties of PSR J1745-2900 at 7 mm
• Iron K-alpha echoes from the circumnuclear disk orbiting Sgr A*
• The High Frequency Radio Emission of the Galactic Center Magnetar SGR J1745-29 During a Transitional Period
• Magnetically arrested transmutation of a compact star
• Tera-Hertz Counterparts to Fast Radio Bursts from Coherent Cherenkov Radiation by Tilted Bunches
• The Core-shift of Sagittarius A* as a Discriminant between Disk and Jet Emission Models with millimeter-VLBI
• Retuning radio astronomy for axion dark matter with neutron stars