SpiderCat: A Catalog of Compact Binary Millisecond Pulsars

TL;DR

SpiderCat is a comprehensive, multiwavelength catalog of 111 known compact binary millisecond pulsars, providing detailed parameters and an interactive web interface to facilitate population studies and pulsar research.

Contribution

This work introduces SpiderCat, the first extensive catalog compiling key data on all publicly known binary millisecond pulsars in the Galactic field, including new subclasses and candidates.

Findings

Analysis of spin and orbital period distributions

Identification of trends in emission properties

Spatial distribution insights of pulsar populations

Abstract

We present SpiderCat, a multiwavelength catalog of all publicly known compact binary millisecond pulsars (MSPs) in the Galactic field. These systems, colloquially known as "spiders," consist of neutron stars in tight orbits with low-mass companions, which are gradually ablated by the pulsar wind. SpiderCat includes both primary subclasses$-$redbacks and black widows$-$distinguished by companion mass, as well as candidates and peculiar systems such as transitional, huntsman and tidarren MSPs. As of this initial release, SpiderCat contains 111 entries: 30 redbacks, 50 black widows, two huntsmans, 23 redback candidates, five black widow candidates, and one huntsman candidate. In this paper, we compile and summarize key parameters for each system, including spin and orbital properties, and multiwavelength data from radio, optical, X-ray, and $\gamma$-ray observations. An interactive, publicly accessible web interface, at https://astro.phys.ntnu.no/SpiderCAT, enables exploration and visualization of the data. The rapid growth of the number of known spiders, accelerated by the Fermi Large Area Telescope survey and its ability to identify MSPs in $\gamma$-rays, has opened the door to population-level studies. Utilizing SpiderCat, we analyze trends in spin period, orbital period, companion mass, emission properties, and spatial distribution. SpiderCat serves as a dynamic, multiwavelength repository for this unique class of binary pulsars, facilitating new discoveries and constraints on pulsar evolution, particle acceleration, and the neutron star equation of state.