PSR J1744-3922: Hint of a New Binary Pulsar Class

Breton, R. P.; Robert, M. S. E.; Ransom, S. M.; Kaspi, V. M.; Durant, M.; Bergeron, P.; Faulkner, A. J.
Bibliographical reference

40 YEARS OF PULSARS: Millisecond Pulsars, Magnetars and More. AIP Conference Proceedings, Volume 983, pp. 479-481 (2008).

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2
2008
Number of authors
7
IAC number of authors
1
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
Standard binary evolution models of pulsars in very circular orbits can explain systems with lighter companions and weaker magnetic fields: they are descended from long-lived Low Mass X-ray Binaries with Roche-lobe overflow. By contrast, those having more massive companions and larger magnetic fields are descendants of Intermediate Mass systems, that experienced a common envelope phase. PSR J1744-3922 is a Galactic field binary pulsar exhibiting an unusual combination of characteristics compared to other binary pulsars with low-mass members in circular orbits: it has a relatively long spin period (172 ms), a relatively high magnetic field (1.7×1010 G), a short orbital period (4.6 h) and a light companion (Mmin = 0.08Msolar). These properties are not self-consistently explained by standard evolution models and so suggest that PSR J1744-3922 has a peculiar evolutionary history. We identify some other previously catalogued Galactic field binary pulsars with similar properties and propose they are potential members of a new class of binary pulsars. Such pulsars could possibly be formed by the recycling of a pulsar originally having a magnetar-strength magnetic field, accretion-induced collapse of a massive white dwarf or a special case of common envelope accretion from a low-mass star.