Modelling Millisecond Pulsar Populations in Globular Clusters with NBODY6++GPU

TL;DR

This paper models millisecond pulsar populations in globular clusters using advanced N-body simulations, incorporating pulsar spin dynamics, to better understand their formation and gravitational wave signals.

Contribution

It introduces modifications to the NBODY6++GPU code to simulate pulsar spin evolution and applies it to the globular cluster M71, providing new insights into MSP populations.

Findings

Successful implementation of pulsar spin-down and spin-up in N-body simulations

Predicted MSP population characteristics in M71

Implications for gravitational wave transient detection

Abstract

Millisecond pulsars (MSPs) are neutron stars with spin periods as short as a few milliseconds, formed through mass accretion from companion stars. In the dense environments of globular clusters (GCs), MSPs are likely to originate through dynamically assembled interacting binaries. Over 300 MSPs have been detected in GCs to date, more than half of the known Galactic MSP population. In this work, we model MSP populations in intermediate-mass GCs using the direct $N$-body code \textsc{NBODY6++GPU}. We update the code by implementing pulsar spin-down due to magnetic braking and spin-up through accretion, and use this framework to model the pulsar population in the globular cluster M71 to investigate the pulsar population within and the associated gravitational wave transients.