Discovery and timing of ten new millisecond pulsars in the globular cluster Terzan 5

P. V. Padmanabh, S. M. Ransom, P. C. C. Freire, A. Ridolfi, J. D. Taylor, C. Choza, C. J. Clark, F. Abbate, M. Bailes, E. D. Barr, S. Buchner, M. Burgay, M. E. DeCesar, W. Chen, A. Corongiu, D. J. Champion, A. Dutta, M. Geyer, J. W. T. Hessels, M. KramerA. Possenti, I. H. Stairs, B. W. Stappers, V. Venkatraman Krishnan, L. Vleeschower, L. Zhang

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Abstract

We report the discovery of ten new pulsars in the globular cluster Terzan 5 as part of the Transients and Pulsars with MeerKAT (TRAPUM) Large Survey Project. We observed Terzan 5 at L-band (856-1712 MHz) with the MeerKAT radio telescope for four hours on two epochs, and performed acceleration searches of 45 out of 288 tied-array beams covering the core of the cluster. We obtained phase-connected timing solutions for all ten discoveries, covering nearly two decades of archival observations from the Green Bank Telescope for all but one. Highlights include PSR J1748-2446ao which is an eccentric (e = 0.32) wide-orbit (orbital period Pb = 57.55 d) system. We were able to measure the rate of advance of periastron (ω) for this system allowing us to determine a total mass of 3.17 ± 0.02 M⊙. With a minimum companion mass (Mc) of ∼0.8 M⊙, PSR J1748-2446ao is a candidate double neutron star (DNS) system. If confirmed to be a DNS, it would be the fastest spinning pulsar (P = 2.27 ms) and the longest orbital period measured for any known DNS system. PSR J1748-2446ap has the second highest eccentricity for any recycled pulsar (e ∼ 0.905) and for this system we can measure the total mass (1.997 ± 0.006 M⊙) and estimate the pulsar and companion masses, (1.700-0.045+0.015 M⊙ and 0.294-0.014+0.046 M⊙, respectively). PSR J1748-2446ar is an eclipsing redback (minimum Mc ∼ 0.34 M⊙) system whose properties confirm it to be the counterpart to a previously published source identified in radio and X-ray imaging. We were also able to detect ω for PSR J1748-2446au leading to a total mass estimate of 1.82 ± 0.07 M⊙ and indicating that the system is likely the result of Case A Roche lobe overflow. With these discoveries, the total number of confirmed pulsars in Terzan 5 is 49, the highest for any globular cluster so far. These discoveries further enhance the rich set of pulsars known in Terzan 5 and provide scope for a deeper understanding of binary stellar evolution, cluster dynamics and ensemble population studies.

Original languageEnglish
Article numberA166
JournalA&A
Volume686
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 7 Jun 2024

Keywords

  • Binaries: general
  • Globular clusters: individual: Terzan 5
  • Pulsars: general

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