2006/03/23 by Tsvi Piran, Piran, Tsvi, Nir J. Shaviv +1
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Geophysics and Gravity Measurements #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0603649
arxiv created 2006/03/23 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
Shortly after the discovery of the binary system PSR J0737-3039 we predicted that it has a small proper motion and suggested that this implies that the progenitor mass of the younger pulsar (B) must be around 1.45Msun. This is in contradiction to standard evolutionary scenarios that suggest a He-star progenitor with M >2.1-2.3Msun and in sharp contrast to a velocity of ~100 km/s predicted by these models. It requires a new previously unseen type of gravitational collapse. Our (generally ignored) prediction of a low peculiar motion was confirmed later by pulsar timing observations that found v_\bot < 30 km/s. Recently Willems et al. put forward an elaborate simulation suggesting that in spite of these observations, the most likely natal kick is large (50-170 km/s) and the corresponding most likely progenitor mass is large as well. We refute this claim and show that Willems et al. implicitly assume the result that they obtain.