A Serendipitous Pulsar Discovery in a Search for a Companion to a Low-Mass White Dwarf

TL;DR

This paper reports the serendipitous discovery of a pulsar during a search for neutron star companions to low-mass white dwarfs, highlighting the challenges in associating pulsars with specific white dwarf systems.

Contribution

The study presents the discovery of a new pulsar, PSR J0802-0955, and demonstrates that it is unassociated with a nearby low-mass white dwarf, providing insights into pulsar detection and association challenges.

Findings

Discovered a new pulsar, PSR J0802-0955.

The pulsar is unassociated with the nearby low-mass white dwarf.

The pulsar has a pulse period of 571 ms.

Abstract

We report the discovery of a previously unidentified pulsar as part of a radio campaign to identify neutron star companions to low-mass white dwarfs (LMWDs) using the Robert C.\ Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT). PSR J0802-0955, which is coincident with the position of a WD with a mass of 0.2 solar masses, has a pulse period of 571 ms. Because of its relatively long pulse period, the lack of radial velocity (RV) variations in the radio data, and GBT's large beam size at the observing frequency of 340 MHz, we conclude that PSR J0802-0955 is unassociated with the LMWD at roughly the same position and distance.