Quark Novae: An Alternative Channel For the Formation of Isolated Millisecond Pulsars

Abstract

Isolated millisecond pulsars (IMSPs) are a topic of academic contention. There are various models to explain their formation. We explore the formation of IMSP via quark novae (QN). During this formation process, low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) are disrupted when the mass of the neutron star (NS) reaches 1.8 ${\mathrm{M}}_{\odot }$. Using population synthesis, this work estimates that the Galactic birthrate of QN-produced IMSPs lies between $\sim 9.5\times 10^{-6}$ and $\sim 1.7\times 10^{-4}$ $\mathrm{y}{\mathrm{r}}^{-1}$. The uncertainties shown in our experiment model is due to the QN's kick velocity. Furthermore, our findings not only show that QN-produced IMSPs are statistically more significant than those produced by mergers, but also that millisecond pulsar binaries with a high eccentricity may originate from LMXBs that have been involved in, yet not disrupted by, a QN.

7 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in the Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy