The Bright Optical Companion to the Eclipsing Millisecond Pulsar in NGC 6397

2001/08/15 by Francesco R. Ferraro, Andrea Possenti, Nichi D'Amico +2 · 5 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/324563

9 pages, 4 embedded figures, submitted to ApJ Letters

arxiv created 2001/08/15 · openalex publication_date 2001/11/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31

Abstract

We report the optical identification of the companion to the eclipsing millisecond pulsar PSR J1740-5340 in the globular cluster NGC 6397. A bright variable star with an anomalous red color and optical variability (~0.2 mag) that nicely correlates to the orbital period of the pulsar (~1.35 days) has been found close to the pulsar position. The peculiar shape of the optical light curves is unprecedented for a millisecond pulsar companion and is a clear signature of tidal distortions.

Citations

• Studies in astronomical time series analysis. II - Statistical aspects of spectral analysis of unevenly spaced data
• Optical Detection of a Variable Millisecond Pulsar Companion in 47 Tucanae
• The Neutron Stars of Soft X-Ray Transients
• [ITAL]Chandra[/ITAL] Exposes the Core-collapsed Globular Cluster NGC 6397

Cited by

• [ITAL]Chandra[/ITAL] Exposes the Core-collapsed Globular Cluster NGC 6397
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• Accurate Mass Ratio and Heating Effects in the Dual-Line Millisecond Binary Pulsar in NGC 6397
• SwiftObservations of SAX J1808.4-3658: Monitoring the Return to Quiescence
• The Hubble Space Telescope UV Legacy Survey of Galactic Globular Clusters. I. Overview of the Project and Detection of Multiple Stellar Populations