Studies of the Relativistic Binary Pulsar PSR B1534+12. I. Timing Analysis

By Ingrid Stairs, S. Thorsett, J. Taylor, A. Wolszczan. 2002

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We have continued our long-term study of the double neutron star binary pulsar PSR B1534+12, using new instrumentation to make very high precision measurements at the Arecibo Observatory. We have significantly improved our solution for the astrometric, spin, and orbital parameters of the system as well as for the five "post-Keplerian" orbital parameters that can be used to test gravitation theory. The results are in good agreement with the predictions of general relativity. With the assumption that general relativity is the correct theory of gravity in the classical regime, our measurements allow us to determine the masses of the pulsar and its companion neutron star with high accuracy: 1.3332 ± 0.0010 M☉ and 1.3452 ± 0.0010 M☉, respectively. The small but significant mass difference is difficult to understand in most evolutionary models, as the pulsar is thought to have been born first from a more massive progenitor star and then undergone a period of mass accretion before the formation of the second neutron star. PSR B1534+12 has also become a valuable probe of the local interstellar medium. We have now measured the pulsar distance to be 1.02 ± 0.05 kpc, giving a mean electron density along this line of sight of 0.011 cm-3. We continue to measure a gradient in the dispersion measure, though the rate of change is now slower than in the first years after the pulsar's discovery.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a16a430751770a5c5f332fc04e549558568586c8

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Citations in the corpus

Testing Relativistic Gravity with Radio Pulsars (2014, methodology): “uble neutron-star system with an orbital period of about 10 hours. Subsequent timing observations lead to the determination of ve post-Keplerian parameters: _!, , P_ b, and r, sfrom the Shapiro delay [89]. The large uncertainty in the distance to this system still prevents its usage in a gravitation”
The relativistic pulsar-white dwarf binary PSR J1738+0333 - II. The most stringent test of scalar-tensor gravity (2012, background): “…experiment, Hofmann, Müller & Biskupek 2010) and binary pulsars, according to the latest literature (Weisberg, Nice & Taylor 2010 for PSR B1913+16, Stairs et al. 2002 for PSR B1534+12, Kramer et al. 2006 for PSR J0737−3039A/B, Bhat, Bailes & Verbiest 2008 for PSR J1141−6545 and Gonzalez et al.…”
Formation of Double Neutron Star Systems (2017, unknown): “PSR B1534+12 PSR B1534+12 was discovered by Wolszczan (1991) and studied further in detail by e.g. Stairs et al. (2002); Fonseca et al. (2014).”
A 2.1 M☉ Pulsar Measured by Relativistic Orbital Decay (2005, background): “Four of these systems consist of a mildly recycled pulsar bound to a second neutron star in an eccentric orbit (Taylor & Weisberg 1989; Stairs et al. 2002; Deich & Kulkarni 1996; Kramer et al. 2005).”
Constraining the Equation of State with Moment of Inertia Measurements (2004, background): “—(1) Lyne et al. 2004; (2) solution 1, Jenet & Ransom 2004; (3) Kramer et al. 2005a; (4) Weisberg & Taylor 2002; (5) Weisberg & Taylor 2005; (6) Stairs et al. 2002; (7) Bogdanov et al. 2002; (8) Stairs et al. 2004. more reliable estimates of neutron star radii and matter pressures near the nuclear…”
The basics of gravitational wave theory (2005, background): “Since this pioneering system was discovered, several other double neutron star systems “tight” enough to exhibit strong GW emission have been discovered [ 13 , 14, 15, 16].”
ON THE MASS DISTRIBUTION AND BIRTH MASSES OF NEUTRON STARS (2012, unknown): “Stairs et al. 2002; 3.”