2003/02/17 by Monica Colpi, Colpi, Monica, Ira Wasserman +1
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomical Observations and Instrumentation #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0302332
To appear in the proceedings of the International Workshop on " Pulsars, AXPs, and SGRs observed with BeppoSAX and other Observatories" (Marsala, Sicily, 23-25 September 2002); 6 pages, 1 figure
arxiv created 2003/02/17 · openalex publication_date 2003/02/17 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2022/09/01 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
If rotating core collapse leads to the formation of a proto-neutron star\nbinary in super-close orbit, then the lighter star, propelled toward the\nminimum stable mass, explodes. The neutron star (or black hole) that remains\nacquires a spin-perpendicular kick of very large amplitude. Kicks of the type\nare required to explain the geodesic precession in double neutron star binaries\nsuch as B1913+16. On the contrary, spin-kick alignment has been claimed for the\nVela and Crab pulsars whose kicks are relatively small. We propose that the\nlarger kick component, when present in a pulsar, results from the disruption of\nan evanescent proto-neutron star binary and is spin perpendicular; the smaller\nkick component is associated to some other mechanism that leads to less\nvigorous kicks, predominantly parallel to the spin, because of phase averaging.\nThis gives rise to a "bimodal distribution" in the peculiar velocities of\nneutron stars, as observed in the pulsar sample. The kick velocity is found to\nscale with the mass of the star that remains as M^(-2/3). This scenario can\nexplain the run-away black hole GRO J1655-40, the first to show evidence for a\nnatal kick.\n