A search for radio pulsars around low-mass white dwarfs

Abstract

Low-mass white dwarfs can either be produced in low-mass X-ray binaries by stable mass transfer to a neutron star, or in a common-envelope phase with a heavier white dwarf companion. We have searched 8 low-mass white dwarf candidates recently identified in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey for radio pulsations from pulsar companions, using the Green Bank Telescope at 340MHz. We have found no pulsations down to flux densities of 0.6-0.8 mJy/kpc^2 and conclude that a given low-mass helium-core white dwarf has a probability of < 0.18+-0.05 of being in a binary with a radio pulsar.

4 pages, accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (2)

• The ATNF Pulsar Catalogue
• The masses of PSR J1911-5958A and its white dwarf companion

Cited by in corpus (7)

• The ELM Survey. VIII. 98 Double White Dwarf Binaries
• On type Ia supernovae and the formation of single low-mass white dwarfs
• The Discovery of a Companion to the Lowest Mass White Dwarf
• The Mass Distribution of Companions to Low-Mass White Dwarfs
• The Factory and the Beehive. IV. A Comprehensive Study of the Rotation X-ray Activity Relation in Praesepe and the Hyades
• No Neutron Star Companion To The Lowest Mass SDSS White Dwarf
• A Search for Pulsar Companions Around Low-Mass White Dwarfs