Searcharxiv⌕ Search
Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · astro-ph/0605117

A Neutron Star in F-sharp

Jonathan E. Grindlay
View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

In this short introductory commentary on the paper (Hessels et al 2006, Science, 311, 1901) reporting the discovery of the shortest spin period millisecond pulsar (MSP) Ter5-ad in the globular cluster Terzan 5, I also point out a new explanation for possible minimum spin periods, P, of MSPs without requiring gravitational radiation (or other) slow-down torques. If the accretion of matter required to spinup a MSP also reduces (buries) the neutron star (NS) magnetic field, B, as commonly believed, an inverse correlation between neutron star mass, M, and B is expected together with a positive correlation between P and B. Both are suggested for the 4 MSPs with NS mass measures reported (Latimer and Prakash 2004, Science, 304, 536) to have <~10% uncertainties. The correlations imply the Ter5-ad NS has ~2.5 Msun, B ~5 x 10^7 G and thus Pdot ~3 x 10^-21 s/s -- which can be tested when a timing solution is found. If confirmed, the highest spin frequency NSs do not pulse simply because their B fields are too low.

Explore related subjects

astro-ph

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Jonathan E. Grindlay. 2006-05-04. A Neutron Star in F-sharp. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1125125

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2024

A survey of debris trails from short-period comets

We observed 34 comets using the 24 micron camera on the Spitzer Space Telescope. Each image contains the nucleus and covers at least 10^6 km of each comet's orbit. Debris trails due to mm-sized or larger particles were found along the orbits of 27 comets; 4 comets had small-particle dust tails and a viewing geometry that made debris trails impossible to distinguish; and only 3 had no debris trail despite favorable observing conditions. There are now 30 Jupiter-family comets with known debris trails, of which 22 are reported in this paper for the first time. The detection rate is >80%, indicating that debris trails are a generic feature of short-period comets. By comparison to orbital calculations for particles of a range of sizes ejected over 2 yr prior to observation, we find that particles comprising 4 debris trails are typically mm-sized while the remainder of the debris trails require particles larger than this. The lower-limit masses of the debris trails are typically 10^11 g, and the median mass loss rate is 2 kg/s. The mass-loss rate in trail particles is comparable to that inferred from OH production rates and larger than that inferred from visible-light scattering in comae.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2024

Deformation procedure for scalar fields in cosmology

This work offers an extension of the deformation procedure introduced in field theory to the case of standard cosmology in the presence of real scalar field in flat space-time. The procedure is shown to work for many models, which give rise to several different cosmic scenarios, evolving under the presence of first-order differential equations which solve the corresponding equations of motion very appropriately.

astro-ph↗