A Census of Pulsars in Possible Association with Galactic Open Clusters

TL;DR

This study uses Gaia DR3 data to identify pulsars associated with open clusters, revealing four current members and nineteen likely born in clusters, thus providing new insights into pulsar origins and cluster associations.

Contribution

It is the first comprehensive census linking pulsars with open clusters using Gaia data, including trajectory analysis and updated pulsar parameters.

Findings

Four pulsars are likely current open cluster members.

Nineteen pulsars probably originated in open clusters.

Updated distance and companion mass for PSR J1302$-$6350.

Abstract

Among the $\sim 4000$ known pulsars in our Galaxy, $\lesssim 10\%$ are found in globular clusters, but none has been confirmed in any open clusters yet, although they outnumber globular clusters by about 20 times. In this work, we make use of the Gaia DR3 catalog of Galactic open clusters and conduct a pulsar census, in order to identify pulsars that are either 1) current members of open clusters, or 2) escaped from open clusters to the field. Among 164 pulsars with independent distance measurements and 3530 open clusters, we find that 4 pulsars are likely residing in open clusters. In particular, we find compelling evidence that the binary pulsar J1302$-$6350 (B1259$-$63) is a member of the open cluster UBC~525; based on Gaia data, we update its distance to be $2.26\pm 0.07$~kpc and measure the mass of its companion Be star LS 2883 to be $16.8 M_\odot$. For 145 pulsars with both distance and proper motion measurements and 2967 open clusters with full kinematic parameters, we trace the past trajectories of both pulsars and open clusters in the Galactic gravitational potential, and find pulsars that were within 3 times the radius of a cluster. This results in 19 pulsars that were likely born in open clusters. We discuss implications for the formation history of PSR J1302$-$6350 and highlight the scientific potential of searching for pulsars in open clusters.