A statistical study of 233 pulsar proper motions

By G. Hobbs, D. R. Lorimer, Andrew G. Lyne, Michael Kramer. 2005

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We present and analyse a catalogue of 233 pulsars with proper motion measurements. The sample contains a wide variety of pulsars including recycled objects and those associated with globular clusters or supernova remnants. After taking the most precise proper motions for those pulsars for which multiple measurements are available, the majority of the proper motions (58 per cent) are derived from pulsar timing methods, 41 per cent using interferometers and the remaining 1 per cent using optical telescopes. Many of the one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) speeds (referring to speeds measured in one coordinate only and the magnitudes of the transverse velocities, respectively) derived from these measurements are somewhat lower than earlier estimates because of the use of the most recent electron density model in determining pulsar distances. The mean 1D speeds for the normal and recycled pulsars are 152(10) and 54(6) km s −1 , respectively. The corresponding mean 2D speeds are 246(22) and 87(13) km s −1 . PSRs B2011+38 and B2224+64 have the highest inferred 2D speeds of ∼1600 km s −1 .W estudy the mean speeds for different subsamples and find that, in general, they agree with previous results. Applying a novel deconvolution technique to the sample of 73 pulsars with characteristic ages less than 3 Myr, we find the mean threedimensional (3D) pulsar birth velocity to be 400(40) km s −1 . The distribution of velocities is well described by a Maxwellian distribution with 1D rms σ = 265 km s −1 . There is no evidence for a bimodal velocity distribution. The proper motions for PSRs B1830−08 and B2334+61 are consistent with their proposed associations with the supernova remnants W41 and G114.3+0.3, respectively. Ke yw ords: stars: kinematics ‐ pulsars: general.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Oceanography, Statistical and Nonlinear Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/994bfc00061dffa6592f72887e940a2b3e6b37ad

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Citations in the corpus

Stellar Remnants in Galactic Nuclei: Mass Segregation (2006, methodology): “…responsible for such ‘‘natal kicks’’ is still not understood, they are required to explain the high spacial velocities of observed field pulsars (Hobbs et al. 2005, and references therein) as well as other observed characteristics of neutron star binaries (e.g., Willems et al. 2004;…”
A new route towards merging massive black holes (2016, background): “However, while the magnitude of such kicks for NSs is fairly well constrained from pulsar observations (Hobbs et al. 2005), the magnitude of kicks imparted onto a BH during its formation is rather uncertain.”
On the Rarity of Double Black Hole Binaries: Consequences for Gravitational Wave Detection (2006, background): “…cluster observations, a detailed treatment of mass transfer episodes fully calibrated against detailed calculations with a stellar evolution code, updated stellar winds for massive stars, and the latest determination of the natal kick velocity distribution for neutron stars (Hobbs et al. 2005).”
Short-hard gamma-ray bursts (2007, background): “In the case of compact binaries the natal kick is expected to be between several tens to several hundreds km/s (e.g., Hobbs et al. , 2005) and different models of binary formation channels predict a wide duration range between the second SN and the merger (e.g., Belczynski et al. , 2006).”
The population of TeV pulsar wind nebulae in the H.E.S.S. Galactic Plane Survey (2017, methodology): “Hobbs et al. (2005) determined the mean 2D speed for non-millisecond pulsars to be 307 ± 47 km s−1, and the velocity distributions were found to be compatible with a Maxwellian distribution.”
Science with ASKAP (2008, background): “Typical pulsar birth velocities of ∼400 km s−1 are much faster than their progenitor stars [131].”
Formation of Double Neutron Star Systems (2017, background): “…(typically 400− 500 km s−1) in observations of young radio pulsars (Gott et al. 1970; Cordes et al. 1993; Lyne & Lorimer 1994; Kaspi et al. 1996; Hobbs et al. 2005; Chatterjee et al. 2005) it also seems evident that the second SN explosion forming DNS systems involves, on average,…”
An analysis of the timing irregularities for 366 pulsars (2009, methodology): “The proper motions were subsequently updated with more recent observations, combined with other measurements of pulsar proper motions available from the literature and analysed by Hobbs et al. (2005).”
Three-dimensional simulations of neutrino-driven core-collapse supernovae from low-mass single and binary star progenitors (2018, background): “…reproduce the very low kicks required to explain some double neutron star systems and pulsars in globular clusters (Tauris et al. 2017), while the models with higher He core masses are compatible with the typical kicks of young pulsars (Arzoumanian et al. 2002; Hobbs et al. 2005; Ng & Romani 2007).”
The great escape: how exoplanets and smaller bodies desert dying stars (2011, background): “…indication of the origin of supernova-produced free-floaters is their space velocities; neutron star ‘kicks’ cause the true space velocities of young pulsars to reflect the (high) speed of the supernova ejecta (Hobbs et al. 2005). metal-poor and/or metal-rich stars may be prone to ejecting planets.”
BPASS predictions for binary black hole mergers (2016, methodology): “Once the remnant and its mass is determined we use the kick distribution of Hobbs et al. (2005) to pick a kick velocity and direction at random.”
Double neutron stars: merger rates revisited (2017, methodology): “With an intention to statistically describe the natal kicks, Hobbs et al. (2005) studied the proper motions of young (with characteristic ages of less than 3 Myr) and presumably single field pulsars.”
MISSING BLACK HOLES UNVEIL THE SUPERNOVA EXPLOSION MECHANISM (2011, background): “An example would be a selective increased disruption of binaries with low mass black holes via natal kicks caused by supernova asymmetries (e.g., Hobbs et al. 2005).”
A White Paper on keV sterile neutrino Dark Matter (2016, background): “Observations show that these radio pulsars have large velocities, with averages of several hundred km/sec, and with a non-Gaussian tail extending up to 1600 km/sec [869, 870].”
Binary Black Hole Mergers from Field Triples: Properties, Rates, and the Impact of Stellar Evolution (2017, methodology): “In models B1 and B2, we use the neutron star kick distribution of Hobbs et al. (2005), which can be approximated by a Maxwellian distribution with dispersion 265km s−1 for neutron stars, and ≈ 40km s−1 for BHs after the kick velocities have been reduced by the ratio of BH to neutron star mass.”
Greatly Enhanced Merger Rates of Compact-object Binaries in Non-spherical Nuclear Star Clusters (2017, methodology): “When a compact-object was formed we assigned a natal kick from a Maxwellian distribution with dispersion vK = 250km s −1, in agreement with observational constraints (Hobbs et al. 2005).”
A possible black hole in the γ-ray microquasar LS 5039 (2005, background): “On the other hand, from the pulsar birth velocity value of ∼400 ± 40 km s−1 (Hobbs et al. 2005), and assuming a pulsar mass of 1.4 M , we obtain that their typical linear momentum is ∼560 ± 56 M km s−1.”