A search for the binary companion to PSR J1740-3052

Search Swinburne Research Bank

Pulsars | 0201 Astronomical and Space Sciences

Home

List of Titles

A search for the binary companion to PSR J1740-3052

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/91971

Check Swinburne's subscriptions for full text availability

Title: A search for the binary companion to PSR J1740-3052
Author(s): Tam, C. R.; Stairs, I. H.; Wagner, S.; Kramer, M.; Manchester, R. N.; Lyne, A. G.; Camilo, F.; D'Amico, N.
Abstract: We present results of near-infrared spectroscopy of the late-type star coincident with the young pulsar PSR J. 1740-3052. High-spectral-resolution K-band (∼2.2 μm) observations were obtained in 2003 with the Infrared Spectrometer and Array Camera instrument on the Very Large Telescope and with Phoenix on the Gemini Telescope. We find no consistent evidence of a radial velocity shift in the star compatible with the known pulsar orbit, setting a limit on the minimum mass of the star, if it is the companion, of 60 M⊙. We therefore conclude that the observed star is likely to be a foreground object. No sign of the previously reported Brackett-γ emission was found in this analysis. Our findings support previous suggestions that the companion to PSR J. 1740-3052 is most likely a massive B-type star that has been obscured by the bright late-type star in the foreground.
Publication type: Journal article
Research centre: Swinburne University of Technology. Faculty of Information and Communication Technologies. Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing
Source: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 406, no. 3 (Aug 2010), pp. 1848-1852
Publication year: 2010
FOR Code(s): 0201 Astronomical and Space Sciences
Keyword(s): Binary systems; Infrared spectroscopy; Late-type stars; PSR J1740-3052; Pulsars
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing
ISSN: 0035-8711
Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.16785.x
Peer reviewed