Millisecond pulsars, old neutron stars spun up by accreting matter from a companion star, can reach high rotation rates of hundreds of revolutions per second. Until now, all such "recycled" rotation-powered pulsars have been detected by their spin-modulated radio emission. In a computing-intensive blind search of gamma-ray data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope (with partial constraints from optical data), we detected a 2.5-millisecond pulsar, PSR J1311-3430. This unambiguously explains a formerly unidentified gamma-ray source that had been a decade-long enigma, confirming previous conjectures. The pulsar is in a circular orbit with an orbital period of only 93 minutes, the shortest of any spin-powered pulsar binary ever found.

Pletsch HJ, Guillemot L, Fehrmann H, Allen B, Kramer M, Aulbert C, et al. (2012). Binary Millisecond Pulsar Discovery via Gamma-Ray Pulsations. SCIENCE, 338(6112), 1314-1317 [10.1126/science.1229054].

Binary Millisecond Pulsar Discovery via Gamma-Ray Pulsations

D'AMMANDO, FILIPPO;
2012

Abstract

Millisecond pulsars, old neutron stars spun up by accreting matter from a companion star, can reach high rotation rates of hundreds of revolutions per second. Until now, all such "recycled" rotation-powered pulsars have been detected by their spin-modulated radio emission. In a computing-intensive blind search of gamma-ray data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope (with partial constraints from optical data), we detected a 2.5-millisecond pulsar, PSR J1311-3430. This unambiguously explains a formerly unidentified gamma-ray source that had been a decade-long enigma, confirming previous conjectures. The pulsar is in a circular orbit with an orbital period of only 93 minutes, the shortest of any spin-powered pulsar binary ever found.
2012
Pletsch HJ, Guillemot L, Fehrmann H, Allen B, Kramer M, Aulbert C, et al. (2012). Binary Millisecond Pulsar Discovery via Gamma-Ray Pulsations. SCIENCE, 338(6112), 1314-1317 [10.1126/science.1229054].
Pletsch HJ; Guillemot L; Fehrmann H; Allen B; Kramer M; Aulbert C; Ackermann M; Ajello M; de Angelis A; Atwood WB; Baldini L; Ballet J; Barbiellini G;...espandi
File in questo prodotto:
Eventuali allegati, non sono esposti

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11585/595729
 Attenzione

Attenzione! I dati visualizzati non sono stati sottoposti a validazione da parte dell'ateneo

Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 106
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 90
social impact