We have used deep V and R images acquired at the ESO Very Large Telescope to identify the optical companion to the binary PSRJ0610-2100, one of the black-widow millisecond pulsars recently detected by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope in the Galactic plane. We found a faint star (V ~26.7) nearly coincident (δr ~0″.28) with the pulsar nominal position. This star is visible only in half of the available images, while it disappears in the deepest ones (those acquired under the best-seeing conditions), thus indicating that it is variable. Although our observations do not sample the entire orbital period (P = 0.28 days) of the pulsar, we found that the optical modulation of the variable star nicely correlates with the pulsar orbital period and describes a well-defined peak (R ~25.6) at phi = 0.75, suggesting a modulation due to the pulsar heating. We tentatively conclude that the companion to PSRJ0610-2100 is a heavily ablated very low mass star (~0.02 Msol) that completely filled its Roche lobe.

C. Pallanca, R.P. Mignani, E. Dalessandro, F.R. Ferraro, B. Lanzoni, A. Possenti, et al. (2012). The Identification of the Optical Companion to the Binary Millisecond Pulsar J0610-2100 in the Galactic Field. THE ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, 755, 180-185 [10.1088/0004-637X/755/2/180].

The Identification of the Optical Companion to the Binary Millisecond Pulsar J0610-2100 in the Galactic Field

PALLANCA, CRISTINA;DALESSANDRO, EMANUELE;FERRARO, FRANCESCO ROSARIO;LANZONI, BARBARA;
2012

Abstract

We have used deep V and R images acquired at the ESO Very Large Telescope to identify the optical companion to the binary PSRJ0610-2100, one of the black-widow millisecond pulsars recently detected by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope in the Galactic plane. We found a faint star (V ~26.7) nearly coincident (δr ~0″.28) with the pulsar nominal position. This star is visible only in half of the available images, while it disappears in the deepest ones (those acquired under the best-seeing conditions), thus indicating that it is variable. Although our observations do not sample the entire orbital period (P = 0.28 days) of the pulsar, we found that the optical modulation of the variable star nicely correlates with the pulsar orbital period and describes a well-defined peak (R ~25.6) at phi = 0.75, suggesting a modulation due to the pulsar heating. We tentatively conclude that the companion to PSRJ0610-2100 is a heavily ablated very low mass star (~0.02 Msol) that completely filled its Roche lobe.
2012
C. Pallanca, R.P. Mignani, E. Dalessandro, F.R. Ferraro, B. Lanzoni, A. Possenti, et al. (2012). The Identification of the Optical Companion to the Binary Millisecond Pulsar J0610-2100 in the Galactic Field. THE ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, 755, 180-185 [10.1088/0004-637X/755/2/180].
C. Pallanca; R.P. Mignani; E. Dalessandro; F.R. Ferraro; B. Lanzoni; A. Possenti; M. Burgay; E. Sabbi
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11585/127956
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