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Millisecond Pulsars, their Evolution and Applications

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Abstract

Millisecond pulsars (MSPs) are short-period pulsars that are distinguished from “normal” pulsars, not only by their short period, but also by their very small spin-down rates and high probability of being in a binary system. These properties are consistent with MSPs having a different evolutionary history to normal pulsars, viz., neutron-star formation in an evolving binary system and spin-up due to accretion from the binary companion. Their very stable periods make MSPs nearly ideal probes of a wide variety of astrophysical phenomena. For example, they have been used to detect planets around pulsars, to test the accuracy of gravitational theories, to set limits on the low-frequency gravitational-wave background in the Universe, and to establish pulsar-based timescales that rival the best atomic-clock timescales in long-term stability. MSPs also provide a window into stellar and binary evolution, often suggesting exotic pathways to the observed systems. The X-ray accretion-powered MSPs, and especially those that transition between an accreting X-ray MSP and a non-accreting radio MSP, give important insight into the physics of accretion on to highly magnetized neutron stars.

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Notes

  1. For the purposes of this article, we define an MSP to be a pulsar with period less than 100 ms and period derivative less than \(10^{-17}\). The somewhat generous period limit allows recycled pulsars such as PSR B1913+16, to be included and the period-derivative limit excludes young pulsars such as the Crab and Vela pulsars.

  2. The names ‘black widow’ and ‘redback’ were coined by Eichler & Levinson (1988) and Roberts (2013), respectivly, after the rather ungracious female spiders that have a tendency to consume their much smaller male companion after mating. The pulsar analogy is that, in these close binary systems, ablation of the companion star by the pulsar wind may destroy it, with no thanks for the fact that earlier accretion from the companion star gave the pulsar its rapid spin and energetic wind.

  3. Other longer-period binary systems are known, but in these cases the pulsar is probably not recycled.

  4. See Stairs (2003) for a description of the post-Keplerian parametrization.

  5. www.bipm.org.

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Acknowledgements

The NASA Astrophysics Data System (http://www.adsabs.harvard.edu/) and the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue (V1.56, www.atnf.csiro.au/research/pulsar/psrcat, Manchester et al. 2005) were used extensively in the preparation of this review.

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Manchester, R.N. Millisecond Pulsars, their Evolution and Applications. J Astrophys Astron 38, 42 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12036-017-9469-2

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