A revisit of PSR J1909$-$3744 with 15-year high-precision timing

TL;DR

This study presents a 15-year high-precision timing analysis of pulsar PSR J1909-3744, improving measurements of its orbital parameters, binary evolution, and gravitational constraints, revealing its Galactic orbit and testing gravity theories.

Contribution

The paper provides the most precise measurements of orbital variations, binary evolution, and gravitational constraints for PSR J1909-3744 using 15 years of data, with improved methods and analysis.

Findings

Improved measurement of orbital period and semi-major axis variations.

Identification of four possible solutions for the pulsar's orbital ascending node.

New constraints on dipolar gravitational radiation and PPN parameter α₁.

Abstract

We report on a high-precision timing analysis and an astrophysical study of the binary millisecond pulsar, PSR J1909$-$3744, motivated by the accumulation of data with well improved quality over the past decade. Using 15 years of observations with the Nan\c{c}ay Radio Telescope, we achieve a timing precision of approximately 100 ns. We verify our timing results by using both broad-band and sub-band template matching methods to create the pulse time-of-arrivals. Compared with previous studies, we improve the measurement precision of secular changes in orbital period and projected semi-major axis. We show that these variations are both dominated by the relative motion between the pulsar system and the solar system barycenter. Additionally, we identified four possible solutions to the ascending node of the pulsar orbit, and measured a precise kinetic distance of the system. Using our timing measurements and published optical observations, we investigate the binary history of this system using the stellar evolution code MESA, and discuss solutions based on detailed WD cooling at the edge of the WD age dichotomy paradigm. We determine the 3-D velocity of the system and show that it has been undergoing a highly eccentric orbit around the centre of our Galaxy. Furthermore, we set up a constraint over dipolar gravitational radiation with the system, which is complementary to previous studies given the mass of the pulsar. We also obtain a new limit on the parameterised post-Newtonian parameter, $\alpha_1<2.1 \times 10^{-5}$ at 95 % confidence level, which is fractionally better than previous best published value and achieved with a more concrete method.