Astronomers using the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) have identified a new millisecond pulsar (MSP) in the globular cluster Terzan 6. This discovery, detailed in a research paper published on September 17 on arXiv, marks the first known pulsar associated with this particular cluster.Pulsars are rotating neutron stars that emit beams of electromagnetic radiation.
Millisecond pulsars, which have rotation periods shorter than 30 milliseconds, are thought to form in binary systems. In these systems, the neutron star is spun up by accreting matter from a companion star.
Terzan 6, located about 21,800 light-years away, is a dense, metal-rich globular cluster. Despite being known for decades, no pulsars had previously been detected within it, though its high rate of stellar encounters suggests that many such objects could exist there.
The newly discovered MSP, designated PSR J1751–3116A, has a spin period of 5.33 milliseconds and a dispersion measure of 383.08 pc/cm³, which confirms its association with Terzan 6. The pulsar's flux density was measured at 3.0 µJy at 6.0 GHz, and is estimated to be around 23 µJy at 1.44 GHz, assuming a spectral index of −1.4.
The researchers, led by Shi-Jie Gao of Nanjing University, believe PSR J1751–3116A is likely an isolated pulsar, consistent with Terzan 6’s classification as a core-collapsed cluster. They also suggest that this MSP may have formed through dynamic interactions within the cluster.
Looking ahead, the team hopes that further observations, especially with more sensitive instruments like the GBT and MeerKAT, will lead to additional pulsar discoveries in Terzan 6.
#TomaszNowakowski #Phys.org #Astronomy & #SpaceAstronomy
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