An Alternative Explanation for the Helium Star Pulsar Binary J1928$+$1815: The Most Heavyweight Black Widow System to Date

TL;DR

This study suggests that the binary pulsar J1928+1815 is likely a heavyweight black widow system with a bloated white dwarf companion, challenging previous assumptions about its nature based on non-detections in infrared imaging.

Contribution

It introduces an alternative interpretation of J1928+1815 as a heavyweight black widow system, expanding understanding of pulsar binary classifications and eclipse phenomena.

Findings

Infrared imaging did not detect the companion, setting deep magnitude limits.

Proposes the companion is a bloated white dwarf, not a helium star.

Radio eclipses can occur in systems with more massive white dwarf companions.

Abstract

We present the results of deep near-infrared imaging of the recently discovered helium star pulsar binary J1928$+$1815 situated in the Galactic plane. Our observations did not achieve significant detections, providing limiting magnitudes of J=23.7 and H=22.2, which are both 2.4\,magnitudes deeper than the expected J and H magnitudes for a modeled stripped helium star with a mass of 1\,$\rm M_{\odot}$ after extinction. Although we cannot completely rule out the possibility of more significant extinction and the exact evolutionary status of the supposed helium star is uncertain, by comparing J1928$+$1815 with other pulsar binaries, we propose a natural alternative solution: that J1928$+$1815 is a heavyweight black widow system with a massive ablated white dwarf. Due to the pulsar's relatively high spin-down power and short orbital separation, the irradiation heating timescale is uniquely shorter than the cooling timescale for the WD companion. As a result, the WD effectively boils, with its outer layers expanding, overfilling the Roche lobe and producing low-density binary-scale haze opaque in the radio band. If this interpretation is correct, J1928$+$1815 would represent a new category distinct from canonical lightweight black widow systems. Radio eclipses can occur in pulsar binaries across a wider range of WD companion masses than previously thought. Therefore, they do not serve as a definitive indicator of a helium star without its direct detection. We contend that a spectroscopic identification remains the smoking gun for its existence. Given the crowding in this field, an \textit{HST} imaging in the near-infrared band would provide even better constraints.