Observations of faint, planet-size star help weigh its millisecond pulsar companion. A dense, collapsed star has shredded and consumed nearly the entire mass of its stellar companion and, in the process, grown into the heaviest neutron star observed to date. It is spinning at 707 times per second —
, which tops the charts at 2.35 solar masses , helps astronomers understand the weird quantum state of matter inside these extremely dense objects. If they get much heavier than that, neutron stars collapse entirely and disappear as a“We know roughly how matter behaves at nuclear densities, like in the nucleus of a uraniumUniversity of California, Berkeley
“By combining this measurement with those of several other black widows, we show that neutron stars must reach at least this mass, 2.35 plus or minus 0.17 solar masses,” said Romani, who is a professor of physics in Stanford’s School of Humanities and Sciences and member of the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology. “In turn, this provides some of the strongest constraints on the property of matter at several times the density seen in atomic nuclei.
Romani, Filippenko and Stanford graduate student Dinesh Kandel are co-authors of a paper describing the team’s results that were published today inAstrophysicists generally agree that when a star with a core larger than about 1.4 solar masses collapses at the end of its life, it forms a dense, compact object with an interior under such high pressure that all atoms are smashed together to form a sea of neutrons and their subnuclear constituents, quarks.
“The evolutionary pathway is absolutely fascinating. Double exclamation point,” Filippenko said. “As the companion star evolves and starts becoming a red giant, material spills over to the neutron star, and that spins up the neutron star. By spinning up, it now becomes incredibly energized, and a wind of particles starts coming out from the neutron star.
“In a case of cosmic ingratitude, the black widow pulsar, which has devoured a large part of its mate, now heats and evaporates the companion down to planetary masses and perhaps complete annihilation,” said Filippenko.Finding black widow pulsars in which the companion is small, but not too small to detect, is one of few ways to weigh neutron stars.
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