TY - JOUR
T1 - Green Bank Telescope observations of the eclipse of pulsar "A" in the double pulsar binary PSR J0737-3039
AU - Kaspi, V. M.
AU - Ransom, S. M.
AU - Backer, D. C.
AU - Ramachandran, R.
AU - Demorest, P.
AU - Arons, J.
AU - Spitkovsky, Anatoly
N1 - Funding Information:
1Department of Physics, McGill University, Rutherford Physics Building, 3600 University Street, Montreal, QC H3A 2T8, Canada. 2 Department of Physics and Center for Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139. 3Canada Research Chair; NSERC Steacie Fellow. 4 Department of Astronomy, University of California at Berkeley, 601 Campbell Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720. 5 Theoretical Astrophysics Center and Department of Physics, University of California at Berkeley, 601 Campbell Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720. 6 KIPAC, Stanford University, P.O. Box 20450, MS 29, Stanford, CA 94309. 7Chandra Fellow. 8The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc.
Funding Information:
We pay tribute to the Parkes survey team for so wonderful a discovery. We thank C. Bignell, F. Ghigo, and G. Langston for assistance with the GBT observations and M. Roberts and B. Rutledge for useful discussions. This work was funded by an NSERC Discovery Grant and Steacie Fellowship Supplement to V. M. K. Additional funding to V. M. K. was provided by FQRST and CIAR. J. A. was partially supported by NASA grants TM4-5005X, NAG5-12031, G03-4063B, and HST-HF-01157.01-A. He also thanks the taxpayers of California for their continued indulgence. A. S. acknowledges support provided by NASA through Chandra Fellowship PF2-30025 awarded by the Chandra X-Ray Center, which is operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory for NASA under contract NAS8-39073.
PY - 2004/10/1
Y1 - 2004/10/1
N2 - We report on the first Green Bank Telescope observations at 427, 820, and 1400 MHz of the newly discovered, highly inclined, and relativistic double pulsar binary. We focus on the brief eclipse of PSR J0737-3039A, the faster pulsar, when it passes behind PSR J0737-3039B. We measure a frequency-averaged eclipse duration of 26.6 ± 0.6 s or 0.00301 ± 0.00008 in orbital phase. The eclipse duration is found to be significantly dependent on radio frequency, with eclipses longer at lower frequencies. Specifically, eclipse duration is well fitted by a linear function having slope (-4.52 ± 0.03) × 10-7 orbits MHz-1. We also detect significant asymmetry in the eclipse. Eclipse ingress takes 3.51 ± 0.99 times longer than egress, independent of radio frequency. In addition, the eclipse lasts (40 ± 7) × 10-5 in orbital phase longer after conjunction, also independent of frequency. We detect significant emission from the pulsar on short timescales during eclipse in some orbits. We discuss these results in the context of a model in which the eclipsing material is a shock-heated plasma layer within the slower PSR J0737-3039B's light cylinder, where the relativistic pressure of the faster pulsar's wind confines the magnetosphere of the slower pulsar.
AB - We report on the first Green Bank Telescope observations at 427, 820, and 1400 MHz of the newly discovered, highly inclined, and relativistic double pulsar binary. We focus on the brief eclipse of PSR J0737-3039A, the faster pulsar, when it passes behind PSR J0737-3039B. We measure a frequency-averaged eclipse duration of 26.6 ± 0.6 s or 0.00301 ± 0.00008 in orbital phase. The eclipse duration is found to be significantly dependent on radio frequency, with eclipses longer at lower frequencies. Specifically, eclipse duration is well fitted by a linear function having slope (-4.52 ± 0.03) × 10-7 orbits MHz-1. We also detect significant asymmetry in the eclipse. Eclipse ingress takes 3.51 ± 0.99 times longer than egress, independent of radio frequency. In addition, the eclipse lasts (40 ± 7) × 10-5 in orbital phase longer after conjunction, also independent of frequency. We detect significant emission from the pulsar on short timescales during eclipse in some orbits. We discuss these results in the context of a model in which the eclipsing material is a shock-heated plasma layer within the slower PSR J0737-3039B's light cylinder, where the relativistic pressure of the faster pulsar's wind confines the magnetosphere of the slower pulsar.
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U2 - 10.1086/425128
DO - 10.1086/425128
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:2342420733
SN - 0004-637X
VL - 613
SP - L137-L140
JO - Astrophysical Journal
JF - Astrophysical Journal
IS - 2 II
ER -