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Astrophysics, High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, astro-ph.HE
Abstract:
We report the discovery of PSR J1555-2908, a 1.79 ms radio and gamma-ray
pulsar in a 5.6 hr binary system with a minimum companion mass of 0.052
$M_\odot$. This fast and energetic ($\dot E = 3 \times 10^{35}$ erg/s)
millisecond pulsar was first detected as a gamma-ray point source in Fermi LAT
sky survey observations. Guided by a steep spectrum radio point source in the
Fermi error region, we performed a search at 820 MHz with the Green Bank
Telescope that first discovered the pulsations. The initial radio pulse timing
observations provided enough information to seed a search for gamma-ray
pulsations in the LAT data, from which we derive a timing solution valid for
the full Fermi mission. In addition to the radio and gamma-ray pulsation
discovery and timing, we searched for X-ray pulsations using NICER but no
significant pulsations were detected. We also obtained time-series r-band
photometry that indicates strong heating of the companion star by the pulsar
wind. Material blown off the heated companion eclipses the 820 MHz radio pulse
during inferior conjunction of the companion for ~10% of the orbit, which is
twice the angle subtended by its Roche lobe in an edge-on system.
