The Green Bank Northern Celestial Cap Pulsar Survey. VI. Timing and Discovery of PSR J1759+5036: A Double Neutron Star Binary Pulsar

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery and timing of PSR J1759+5036, a likely double neutron star binary pulsar found in the GBNCC survey, with detailed orbital measurements and implications for neutron star systems.

Contribution

The paper presents the discovery and detailed timing analysis of PSR J1759+5036, a new double neutron star binary pulsar identified through the GBNCC survey.

Findings

Measured system mass of 2.62 solar masses

Detected periastron advance indicating a double neutron star system

Pulsar detectable in about 45% of observations due to scintillation

Abstract

The Green Bank North Celestial Cap (GBNCC) survey is a 350-MHz all-sky survey for pulsars and fast radio transients using the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope. To date, the survey has discovered over 190 pulsars, including 33 millisecond pulsars (MSPs) and 24 rotating radio transients(RRATs). Several exotic pulsars have been discovered in the survey, including PSR J1759+5036, a binary pulsar with a 176-ms spin period in an orbit with a period of 2.04 days, an eccentricity of 0.3,and a projected semi-major axis of 6.8 light seconds. Using seven years of timing data, we are able to measure one post-Keplerian parameter, advance of periastron, which has allowed us to constrain the total system mass to 2.62(3) solar masses. This constraint, along with the spin period and orbital parameters, suggests that this is a double neutron star system, although we cannot entirely rule out a pulsar-white dwarf binary. This pulsar is only detectable in roughly 45% of observations, most likely due to scintillation. However, additional observations are required to determine whether there may be other contributing effects.