Arecibo PALFA Survey and Einstein@Home: Binary Pulsar Discovery by Volunteer Computing

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of a binary pulsar using Einstein@Home volunteer computing, with detailed orbital parameters indicating a massive white dwarf companion, contributing to the understanding of intermediate mass binary pulsars.

Contribution

First discovery of a binary pulsar through distributed volunteer computing, with detailed orbital analysis and implications for pulsar companion types.

Findings

Discovered a 20.7 ms binary pulsar J1952+2630.

Orbital period of 9.4 hours with a low eccentricity.

Companion likely a massive white dwarf of at least 0.95 solar masses.

Abstract

We report the discovery of the 20.7 ms binary pulsar J1952+2630, made using the distributed computing project Einstein@Home in Pulsar ALFA survey observations with the Arecibo telescope. Follow-up observations with the Arecibo telescope confirm the binary nature of the system. We obtain a circular orbital solution with an orbital period of 9.4 hr, a projected orbital radius of 2.8 lt-s, and a mass function of f = 0.15 solar masses by analysis of spin period measurements. No evidence of orbital eccentricity is apparent; we set a 2-sigma upper limit e < 1.7e-3. The orbital parameters suggest a massive white dwarf companion with a minimum mass of 0.95 solar masses, assuming a pulsar mass of 1.4 solar masses. Most likely, this pulsar belongs to the rare class of intermediate mass binary pulsars. Future timing observations will aim to determine the parameters of this system further, measure relativistic effects, and elucidate the nature of the companion star.