Is the Black Widow Pulsar Eclipsed by its Companion?
Abstract
PSR B1957+20, the original Black Widow Pulsar, appears to be very massive, M ~ 2.4 Solar Mass. If confirmed, this would strongly constrain the equation of state of ultra-dense matter. The main uncertainty is in the orbital inclination, formally 65 ±2 deg, which is inferred from the modeling of the pulsar's irradiated companion. This inclination was consistent with earlier VLA continuum data, which appeared to show that the pulsar is never eclipsed. However, there is evidence for a true eclipse in Fermi data, implying a much lower pulsar mass, of ~1.8 Solar Mass. In order to further confirm the eclipse, we observed PSR B1957+20 during the eclipsing time at L-band with 600 MHz bandwidth using VLA. Here we present the result of our observations.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #235
- Pub Date:
- January 2020
- Bibcode:
- 2020AAS...23540807L