Refined Mass and Geometric Measurements of the High-mass PSR J0740+6620

🤖 Plain-English Summary

Abstract We report results from continued timing observations of PSR J0740+6620, a high-mass, 2.8 ms radio pulsar in orbit with a likely ultracool white dwarf companion. This improved distance confirms the ultracool nature of the white dwarf companion determined from recent optical observations.

🔑 Key Findings

• Our data set consists of combined pulse arrival-time measurements made with the 100 m Green Bank Telescope and the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment telescope.
• We explore the significance of timing-based phenomena arising from general relativistic dynamics and variations in pulse dispersion.
• When using various statistical methods, we find that combining ∼1.5 yr of additional, high-cadence timing data with previous measurements confirms and improves on previous estimates of relativistic effects within the PSR J0740+6620 system, with the pulsar mass <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>m</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>p</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mspace width="0.50em"/> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>2.08</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.07</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>+</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.07</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msubsup> <mml:mspace width="0.33em"/> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>M</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>⊙</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:math> (68.3% credibility) determined by the relativistic Shapiro time delay.

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