Orbital Variability in the Eclipsing Pulsar Binary PSR B1957+20

Abstract

We have conducted timing observations of the eclipsing millisecond binary pulsar PSR~B1957+20, extending the span of data on this pulsar to more than five years. During this time the orbital period of the system has varied by roughly $\Delta P_b/P_b=1.6\times 10^{-7}$, changing quadratically with time and displaying an orbital period second derivative ${\ddot{P}}_b=(1.43\pm 0.08)\times 10^{-18}$s${}^{-1}$. The previous measurement of a large negative orbital period derivative reflected only the short-term behavior of the system during the early observations; the orbital period derivative is now positive and increasing rapidly. If, as we suspect, the PSR~B1957+20 system is undergoing quasi-cyclic orbital period variations similar to those found in other close binaries such as Algol and RS CVn, then the $0.025M{}_{\odot }$ companion to PSR~B1957+20 is most likely non-degenerate, convective, and magnetically active.

9 pages, 3 figures, LaTeX, submitted ApJL 13 Dec. 1993, arz-001

Cited by in corpus (82)

• A statistical study of 233 pulsar proper motions
• The Second Fermi Large Area Telescope Catalog of Gamma-ray Pulsars
• Binary and Millisecond Pulsars
• High-precision timing of 42 millisecond pulsars with the European Pulsar Timing Array
• Evidence for a Massive Neutron Star from a Radial-Velocity Study of the Companion to the Black Widow Pulsar PSR B1957+20
• Observations of 20 millisecond pulsars in 47 Tucanae at 20 cm
• The long-term evolution of the spin, pulse shape, and orbit of the accretion-powered millisecond pulsar SAX J1808.4-3658
• Formation of black widows and redbacks -- two distinct populations of eclipsing binary millisecond pulsars
• The Third Fermi Large Area Telescope Catalog of Gamma-ray Pulsars
• Neutron Star Population Dynamics.I: Millisecond Pulsars
• Binary and Millisecond Pulsars
• Discovery of the Optical Counterparts to Four Energetic Fermi Millisecond Pulsars
• An X-ray Nebula Associated with the Millisecond Pulsar B1957+20
• Chandra X-Ray Observations of Nineteen Millisecond Pulsars in the Globular Cluster 47 Tucanae
• A LOFAR census of millisecond pulsars
• Millisecond Pulsar Velocities
• Orbital Evolution of an Accreting Millisecond Pulsar: Witnessing the Banquet of a Hidden Black Widow?
• A decade of timing an accretion-powered millisecond pulsar: The continuing spin down and orbital evolution of SAX J1808.4-3658
• Discovery of a Second Transient Low-Mass X-ray Binary in the Globular Cluster NGC 6440
• New Pulsars from an Arecibo Drift Scan Search
• Pulsed Gamma Rays from the Original Millisecond and Black Widow Pulsars: a case for Caustic Radio Emission?
• The Parkes pulsar timing array second data release: Timing analysis
• Binary and Millisecond Pulsars at the New Millennium
• The NANOGrav Nine-year Data Set: Astrometric Measurements of 37 Millisecond Pulsars
• Testing f(R)-theories using the first time derivative of the orbital period of the binary pulsars
• Galactic Ultracompact X-ray Binaries: Disk Stability and Evolution
• Accelerated Orbital Expansion And Secular Spin Down of the Accreting Millisecond Pulsar SAX J1808.4-3658
• The light curve of the companion to PSR B1957+20
• X-ray studies of the Black Widow Pulsar PSR B1957+20
• Einstein@Home Discovery of the Gamma-ray Millisecond Pulsar PSR J2039-5617 Confirms Its Predicted Redback Nature
• A New Method for Obtaining Binary Pulsar Distances and its Implications for Tests of General Relativity
• Evidence for gravitational quadrupole moment variations in the companion of PSR J2051-0827
• Superradiance in rotating stars and pulsar-timing constraints on dark photons
• Gamma-ray Timing of Redback PSR J2339-0533: Hints for Gravitational Quadrupole Moment Changes
• Study of spider pulsar binary eclipses and discovery of an eclipse mechanism transition
• Multiwavelength Observations of the Redback Millisecond Pulsar J1048+2339
• The Low-Frequency Radio Eclipses of the Black Widow Pulsar J1810+1744
• GBT Discovery of Two Binary Millisecond Pulsars in the Globular Cluster M30
• The High Time Resolution Universe Survey II: Discovery of 5 Millisecond Pulsars
• Timing of the 2008 Outburst of SAX J1808.4-3658 with XMM-Newton: A Stable Orbital Period Derivative over Ten Years
• On the timing properties of SAX J1808.4-3658 during its 2015 outburst
• Millisecond Pulsars, TeV Halos, and Implications For The Galactic Center Gamma-Ray Excess
• Timing of the accreting millisecond pulsar SAX J1748.9-2021 during its 2015 outburst
• NuSTAR and XMM-Newton broad-band spectrum of SAX J1808.4-3658 during its latest outburst in 2015
• Long Term Variability of a Black Widow's Eclipses -- A Decade of PSR J2051$-$0827
• Accreting pulsars: mixing-up accretion phases in transitional systems
• Evidence for Orbital Decay of RX J1914.4+2456: Gravitational Radiation and the Nature of the X-ray Emission
• Black Widow Pulsars: the Price of Promiscuity
• Orbital variability of the PSR J2051-0827 Binary System
• Spectral and timing properties of IGR J00291+5934 during its 2015 outburst
• Detection and timing of gamma-ray pulsations from the $707$ Hz pulsar J0952$-$0607
• Pulsar Wind Nebulae and the Non-thermal X-Ray Emission of Millisecond Pulsars
• Orbital Phase Dependent Gamma-ray emissions from the Black Widow Pulsar
• Constraining small scale magnetic fields through plasma lensing: Application to the Black widow eclipsing pulsar binary
• Descattering of Giant Pulses in PSR B1957+20
• An Observationally-Derived Kick Distribution for Neutron Stars in Binary Systems
• Search for gravitational waves from twelve young supernova remnants with a hidden Markov model in Advanced LIGO's second observing run
• Timing the pulsations of the accreting millisecond pulsar SAX J1808.4-3658 during its 2019 outburst
• Intrabinary Shock Emission from Black Widows and Redbacks
• The Orbital Evolution and Proper Motion of PSR J2051-0827
• Radio Timing and Optical Photometry of the Black Widow System PSR J1953+1846A in the Globular Cluster M71
• A Dense Companion to the Short-Period Millisecond Pulsar Binary PSR J0636+5128
• Dips and eclipses in the X-ray binary Swift J1858.6-0814 observed with NICER
• Timing analysis of the 2022 outburst of the accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar SAX J1808.4$-$3658: hints of an orbital shrinking
• The Feasibility of Using Black Widow Pulsars in Pulsar Timing Arrays for Gravitational Wave Detection
• Gamma-ray Eclipses and Orbital Modulation Transitions in the Candidate Redback 4FGL J1702.7-5655
• Timing stability of black widow pulsars
• A spider timing model: accounting for quadrupole deformations and relativity in close pulsar binaries
• Detection of strong scattering close to the eclipse region of PSR B1957+20
• Irradiated but not eclipsed, the case of PSR J0610-2100
• An Eclipsing Black Widow Pulsar in NGC 6712
• Binary Eclipsing Millisecond Pulsars: A Decade of Timing
• Comparison of dynamical and kinematic reference frames via pulsar positions from timing, Gaia, and interferometric astrometry
• X-Ray and Optical Properties of Black Widows and Redbacks
• Observation of the Black Widow B1957+20 millisecond pulsar binary system with the MAGIC telescopes
• High energy emission from the nebula around the Black Widow binary system containing millisecond pulsar B1957+20
• Bayesian pulsar timing and noise analysis with Vela.jl: an overview
• A CO observation of the galactic methanol masers
• Possible tidal dissipation in millisecond pulsar binaries
• Jets from Radio Pulsars
• X-rays from the Eclipsing Millisecond Pulsar PSR J1740-5340 in the Globular Cluster NGC 6397
• Timing Gamma-ray Pulsars using Gibbs Sampling