Determination of the geometry of the PSR B1913+16 system by geodetic precession

Abstract

New observations of the binary pulsar B1913+16 are presented. Since 1978 the leading component of the pulse profile has weakend dramatically by about 40%. For the first time, a decrease in component separation is observed, consistent with expectations of geodetic precession. Assuming the correctness of general relativity and a circular hollow-cone like beam, a fully consistent model for the system geometry is developed. The misalignment angle between pulsar spin and orbital momentum is determined giving direct evidence for an asymmetric kick during the second supernova explosion. It is argued that the orbital inclination angle is $132\fdg8$ (rather than $47\fdg2$). A prediction of this model is that PSR B1913+16 will not be observable anymore after the year 2025.

16 pages, incl. 5 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

References in corpus (2)

• The characteristics of millisecond pulsar emission: I. Spectra, pulse shapes and the beaming fraction
• Double Neutron Star Systems and Natal Neutron Star Kicks

Cited by in corpus (110)

• Modified Gravity and Cosmology
• The Confrontation between General Relativity and Experiment
• The Confrontation between General Relativity and Experiment
• A Double-Pulsar System - A Rare Laboratory for Relativistic Gravity and Plasma Physics
• Black holes, gravitational waves and fundamental physics: a roadmap
• Birth and Evolution of Isolated Radio Pulsars
• Formation of Double Neutron Star Systems
• Timing Measurements of the Relativistic Binary Pulsar PSR B1913+16
• The Confrontation between General Relativity and Experiment
• Testing General Relativity with Pulsar Timing
• Pulsar Jets: Implications for Neutron Star Kicks and Initial Spins
• Relativistic Measurements from Timing the Binary Pulsar PSR B1913+16
• Frame dragging and other precessional effects in black hole-pulsar binaries
• General Relativity and Cosmology: Unsolved Questions and Future Directions
• Prospects for Probing the Spacetime of Sgr A* with Pulsars
• Formation of Double Compact Objects
• A Comprehensive Study of Relativistic Gravity using PSR B1534+12
• The Coalescence Rate of Double Neutron Star Systems
• General Relativistic Geodetic Spin Precession in Binary Pulsar B1913+16: Mapping the Emission Beam in Two Dimensions
• The young, highly relativistic binary pulsar J1906+0746
• PSR J1756$-$2251: a pulsar with a low-mass neutron star companion
• The physics of neutron stars
• The Binary Companion of Young, Relativistic Pulsar J1906+0746
• General-relativistic precession in a black-hole binary
• Implications of PSR J0737-3039B for the Galactic NS-NS Binary Merger Rate
• Discovery of a Young Radio Pulsar in a Relativistic Binary Orbit
• Neutron Star Kicks from Asymmetric Collapse
• Measurement of gravitational spin-orbit coupling in a binary pulsar system
• Gravitomagnetic resonant excitation of Rossby modes in coalescing neutron star binaries
• The High Time Resolution Universe Pulsar Survey - XIII. PSR J1757-1854, the most accelerated binary pulsar
• Bumpy Spin-Down of Anomalous X-Ray Pulsars: The Link with Magnetars
• A new limit on local Lorentz invariance violation of gravity from solitary pulsars
• Double Neutron Star Populations and Formation Channels
• Constraints on Supernova Kicks from the Double Neutron Star System PSR B1913+16
• Radio emission from a pulsar's magnetic pole revealed by general relativity
• High signal-to-noise ratio observations and the ultimate limits of precision pulsar timing
• Pulsar Spin-up, Kinematics, and the Birthrate of Neutron Star Binaries
• The double pulsar: evidence for neutron star formation without an iron core-collapse supernova
• Self-consistency of relativistic observables with general relativity in the white dwarf-neutron star binary pulsar PSR J1141-6545
• Can Parity Violation in Neutrino Transport Lead to Pulsar Kicks?
• The Evolution of PSR J0737-3039B and a Model for Relativistic Spin Precession
• Pulsar-black hole binaries: prospects for new gravity tests with future radio telescopes
• The binary pulsar PSR J1811-1736: evidence of a low amplitude supernova kick
• Binary and Millisecond Pulsars at the New Millennium
• The Neutrino Bubble Instability: A Mechanism for Generating Pulsar Kicks
• Pulsars and Gravity
• Constraining the dense matter equation-of-state with radio pulsars
• Observations and Modelling of Relativistic Spin Precession in PSR J1141-6545
• Pulsar Kicks and Spin Tilts in the Close Double Neutron Stars PSR J0737-3039, PSR B1534+12 and PSR B1913+16
• The NANOGrav Nine-Year Data Set: Noise Budget for Pulsar Arrival Times on Intraday Timescales
• Pulsars as probes of gravity and fundamental physics
• Long-term variations in the pulse emission from PSR J0737-3039B
• Profile instabilities of the millisecond pulsar PSR J1022+1001
• Pulsar Spin--Velocity Alignment: Further Results and Discussion
• The spin period - eccentricity relation of double neutron stars: evidence for weak supernova kicks?
• Measurements of pulse jitter and single-pulse variability in millisecond pulsars using MeerKAT
• Formation of an evanescent proto-neutron star binary and the origin of pulsar kicks
• The Mean Pulse Profile of PSR J0737-3039A
• Geodetic Precession in PSR J1141-6545
• Gravity experiments with radio pulsars
• The Relativistic Binary Programme on MeerKAT: Science objectives and first results
• PSR J1753-2240: A mildly recycled pulsar in an eccentric binary system
• The nature of pulsar radio emission
• A coherent acceleration search of the Parkes multi-beam pulsar survey - techniques and the discovery and timing of 16 pulsars
• Pulsational Analysis of the Cores of Massive Stars and its Relevance to Pulsar Kicks
• Populating the Galaxy with pulsars -- II. Galactic dynamics
• A transient component in the pulse profile of PSR J0738-4042
• Orientations of Spin and Magnetic Dipole Axes of Pulsars in the J0737--3039 Binary Based on Polarimetry Observations at the Green Bank Telescope
• The geometry of the double-pulsar system J0737-3039 from systematic intensity variations
• Proposed New Test of Spin Effects in General Relativity
• 1974: the discovery of the first binary pulsar
• Unusual profile variations in pulsar PSR J1022+1001 -- Evidence for magnetospheric "return currents"?
• Clocks around Sgr A*
• PONDER - A Real time software backend for pulsar and IPS observations at the Ooty Radio Telescope
• A Simple Model for Pulse Profiles from Precessing Pulsars, with Special Application to Relativistic Binary PSR B1913+16
• The NANOGrav 11-year Data Set: Pulse Profile Variability
• The origin of the frequency-dependent behaviour of pulsar radio profiles
• Correlated spin-down rates and radio emission in PSR B1859+07
• Characterizing Astrophysical Binary Neutron Stars with Gravitational Waves
• Toward an Empirical Theory of Pulsar Emission XII: Exploring the Physical Conditions in Millisecond Pulsar Emission Regions
• Gravitomagnetism and Pulsar Beam Precession near a Kerr Black Hole
• Revisiting the Galactic Double Neutron Star merger and LIGO detection rates
• Relativistic spin precession in the binary PSR J1141$-$6545
• Multi-epoch searches for relativistic binary pulsars and fast transients in the Galactic Centre
• Radio pulsars: testing gravity and detecting gravitational waves
• Revisiting profile instability of J1022+1001
• Radio Emission Region Exposed: Courtesy of the Double Pulsar
• Measuring the Lense-Thirring Orbital Precession and the Neutron Star Moment of Inertia with Pulsars
• Constraining the Emission Geometry and Mass of the White Dwarf Pulsar AR Sco using the Rotating Vector Model
• Realistic Modeling of the Pulse Profile of PSR J0737-3039A
• VLA Observations of Single Pulses from the Galactic Center Magnetar
• A MeerKAT view of the double pulsar eclipses -- Geodetic precession of pulsar B and system geometry
• The Relativistic Spin Precession in the Compact Double Neutron Star System PSR~J1946+2052
• Observational Constraints on the Completeness of Space near Astrophysical Objects
• Effect of geodetic precession on the evolution of pulsar high-energy pulse profiles as derived with the striped-wind model
• New limits on the local Lorentz invariance violation of gravity in the Standard-Model Extension with pulsars
• Gravito-Magnetism in one-body and two-body systems: Theory and Experiments
• The ratio of profile peak separations as a probe of pulsar radio-beam structure
• Physics of Neutron Star Kicks
• Measuring spin in coalescing binaries of neutron stars showing double precursors
• The double neutron star PSR J1946+2052 I. Masses and tests of general relativity
• Accretion column disruption in GX 1+4
• Improving pulsar-timing solutions through dynamic pulse fitting
• Influence of gravitational waves on circular moving particles
• Measuring the De Sitter precession with a new Earth's satellite to the $\simeq 10^{-5}$ level: a proposal
• Impact of Asymmetrical Mass Ejection from Proto-White Dwarfs on the Properties of Binary Millisecond Pulsars
• The fan beam model for the pulse evolution of PSR J0737-3039B
• Pulsar Magnetic Field Oscillation Model and Verification Methods
• Forming Double Neutron Stars using Detailed Binary Evolution Models with POSYDON: Comparison to the Galactic Systems
• Search for Periodic Radio Signals from Double Neutron Star System Companions Using the Fast Folding Algorithm