Twenty-One Millisecond Pulsars in Terzan 5 Using the Green Bank Telescope

We have identified 21 millisecond pulsars (MSPs) in globular cluster Terzan 5 by using the Green Bank Telescope, bringing the total of known MSPs in Terzan 5 to 24. These discoveries confirm fundamental predictions of globular cluster and binary system evolution. Thirteen of the new MSPs are in binaries, of which two show eclipses and two have highly eccentric orbits. The relativistic periastron advance for the two eccentric systems indicates that at least one of these pulsars has a mass 1.68 times greater than the mass of the Sun at 95% confidence. Such large neutron star masses constrain the equation of state of matter at or beyond the nuclear equilibrium density.

[1]  I. Stairs,et al.  Binary radio pulsars , 2005 .

[2]  J. Lattimer,et al.  The Physics of Neutron Stars , 2004, Science.

[3]  S. Ransom,et al.  Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope Discovery of a Millisecond Pulsar in a Very Eccentric Binary System , 2004, astro-ph/0403453.

[4]  S. Ransom,et al.  Green Bank Telescope Discovery of Two Binary Millisecond Pulsars in the Globular Cluster M30 , 2003, astro-ph/0310347.

[5]  A. King,et al.  Black widow pulsars: the price of promiscuity , 2003, astro-ph/0307023.

[6]  S. Anderson,et al.  Dynamical Formation of Close Binary Systems in Globular Clusters , 2003, astro-ph/0305003.

[7]  R. N. Manchester,et al.  Further results from the timing of the millisecond pulsars in 47 Tucanae , 2003 .

[8]  J. E. Grindlay,et al.  A Chandra X-Ray Study of the Dense Globular Cluster Terzan 5 , 2003, astro-ph/0303141.

[9]  Z. Arzoumanian,et al.  Probing the Masses of the PSR J0621+1002 Binary System through Relativistic Apsidal Motion , 2002, astro-ph/0208281.

[10]  S. Eikenberry,et al.  Fourier Techniques for Very Long Astrophysical Time-Series Analysis , 2002, astro-ph/0204349.

[11]  J. Grindlay,et al.  Hubble Space Telescope/NICMOS Observations of Terzan 5: Stellar Content and Structure of the Core , 2002, astro-ph/0202059.

[12]  S. Ransom.  New Search Techniques for Binary Pulsars , 2001 .

[13]  F. Camilo,et al.  An Eclipsing Millisecond Pulsar with a Possible Main-Sequence Companion in NGC 6397 , 2001, astro-ph/0108250.

[14]  A. Lyne,et al.  Radio pulsars in Terzan 5 , 2000, astro-ph/0003070.

[15]  D. Lorimer,et al.  Observations of 20 Millisecond Pulsars in 47 Tucanae at 20 Centimeters , 1999, astro-ph/9911234.

[16]  A. Fruchter,et al.  Deep Radio Imaging of Globular Clusters and the Cluster Pulsar Population , 1999, astro-ph/9910436.

[17]  D. Lorimer,et al.  THE PARKES SOUTHERN PULSAR SURVEY - II. FINAL RESULTS AND POPULATION ANALYSIS , 1998 .

[18]  William E. Harris,et al.  A Catalog of Parameters for Globular Clusters in the Milky Way , 1996 .

[19]  J. Tassoul.  On Orbital Circularization in Late-Type Close Binaries , 1995 .

[20]  D. Lorimer,et al.  Multifrequency flux density measurements of 280 pulsars , 1995 .

[21]  D. Heggie,et al.  The orbital eccentricities of binary millisecond pulsars in globular clusters , 1995, astro-ph/9502105.

[22]  E. Phinney,et al.  Dynamics and Interactions of Binaries and Neutron Stars in Globular Clusters , 1994, astro-ph/9412078.

[23]  D. Nice,et al.  Pulsar PSR 1744-24A: Timing, Eclipses, and the Evolution of Neutron Star Binaries , 1992 .

[24]  Stuart L. Shapiro,et al.  Collisions of Giant Stars with Compact Objects: Hydrodynamical Calculations , 1991 .

[25]  D. Frail,et al.  An eclipsing millisecond pulsar in the globular cluster Terzan 5 , 1990, Nature.

[26]  D. Stinebring,et al.  A millisecond pulsar in an eclipsing binary , 1988, Nature.

[27]  A. Lyne.  The Galactic population of pulsars , 1985 .

[28]  A. Cheng,et al.  A new class of radio pulsars , 1982, Nature.

[29]  R. Blandford,et al.  The binary pulsar: physical processes, possible companions, and evolutionary histories. , 1976 .

[30]  S. Djorgovski,et al.  New horizons in globular cluster astronomy : proceedings of a conference held at Università di Padova, Padova, Italy 24-28 June, 2002 , 2003 .

[31]  J. G. H. W. Essels,et al.  GBT DISCOVERY OF TWO BINARY MILLISECOND PULSARS IN THE GLOBULAR CLUSTER M30 , 2003 .

[32]  M. Irwin,et al.  NEW HORIZONS IN GLOBULAR CLUSTER ASTRONOMY , 2003 .

[33]  F. V. Leeuwen,et al.  Omega Centauri, A Unique Window into Astrophysics , 2002 .

[34]  Piet Hut,et al.  Dynamical evolution of star clusters - confrontation of theory and observations : proceedings of the 174th Symposium of the International Astronomical Union, held in Tokyo, Japan, August 22-25, 1995 , 1996 .

[35]  E. Phinney,et al.  Binary and Millisecond Pulsars , 1994 .

[36]  S. Anderson.  A study of recycled pulsars in globular clusters , 1993 .