No Pulsar Companion Around the Nearest Low Mass White Dwarf

TL;DR

This study conducted a sensitive radio search for a pulsar companion around the nearest low-mass white dwarf but found no evidence of such a pulsar, constraining the existence of detectable radio pulsars in this system.

Contribution

First targeted deep radio search for a pulsar companion around the nearest low-mass white dwarf, setting new limits on its possible pulsar presence.

Findings

No pulsed radio signals detected from the system.

Excludes the presence of a detectable radio pulsar in the binary.

Achieved sensitivity of ~3 mJy for a 10-ms pulsar at low DM.

Abstract

2MASS J050051.85$-$093054.9 is the closest known low-mass helium-core white dwarf in a binary system. We used three high-band international LOFAR stations to perform a targeted search for a pulsar companion, reaching sensitivities of ~3 mJy for a 10-ms pulsar at a DM = 1 pc$\cdot$cm$^{-3}$. No pulsed signal was detected, confidently excluding the presence of a detectable radio pulsar in the system.