Radio emission from a pulsar’s magnetic pole revealed by general relativity

Gregory Desvignes; Michael Kramer; Kejia Lee; Joeri Van Leeuwen; Ingrid Stairs; Axel Jessner; Ismaël Cognard; Laura Kasian; Andrew Lyne; Ben W. Stappers

doi:10.1126/science.aav7272

Radio emission from a pulsar’s magnetic pole revealed by general relativity

Gregory Desvignes, Michael Kramer, Kejia Lee, Joeri Van Leeuwen, Ingrid Stairs, Axel Jessner, Ismaël Cognard, Laura Kasian, Andrew Lyne, Ben W. Stappers

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Abstract

Binary pulsars are affected by general relativity (GR), causing the spin axis of each pulsar to precess. We present polarimetric radio observations of the pulsar PSR J1906+0746 that demonstrate the validity of the geometrical model of pulsar polarization. We reconstruct the (sky-projected) polarization emission map over the pulsar’s magnetic pole and predict the disappearance of the detectable emission by 2028. Two tests of GR are performed using this system, including the spin precession for strongly self-gravitating bodies. We constrain the relativistic treatment of the pulsar polarization model and measure the pulsar beaming fraction, with implications for the population of neutron stars and the expected rate of neutron star mergers.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1013-1017
Journal	Science
Volume	365
Issue number	6457
Early online date	6 Sept 2019
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aav7272
Publication status	Published - 2019

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Science_1906Accepted author manuscript, 2.62 MB

http://www.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aav7272

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@article{2411df0da08347c995f0666954118c1c,

title = "Radio emission from a pulsar{\textquoteright}s magnetic pole revealed by general relativity",

abstract = "Binary pulsars are affected by general relativity (GR), causing the spin axis of each pulsar to precess. We present polarimetric radio observations of the pulsar PSR J1906+0746 that demonstrate the validity of the geometrical model of pulsar polarization. We reconstruct the (sky-projected) polarization emission map over the pulsar{\textquoteright}s magnetic pole and predict the disappearance of the detectable emission by 2028. Two tests of GR are performed using this system, including the spin precession for strongly self-gravitating bodies. We constrain the relativistic treatment of the pulsar polarization model and measure the pulsar beaming fraction, with implications for the population of neutron stars and the expected rate of neutron star mergers.",

author = "Gregory Desvignes and Michael Kramer and Kejia Lee and {Van Leeuwen}, Joeri and Ingrid Stairs and Axel Jessner and Isma{\"e}l Cognard and Laura Kasian and Andrew Lyne and Stappers, {Ben W.}",

year = "2019",

doi = "10.1126/science.aav7272",

language = "English",

volume = "365",

pages = "1013--1017",

journal = "Science",

issn = "0036-8075",

publisher = "American Association for the Advancement of Science (A A A S)",

number = "6457",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Radio emission from a pulsar’s magnetic pole revealed by general relativity

AU - Desvignes, Gregory

AU - Kramer, Michael

AU - Lee, Kejia

AU - Van Leeuwen, Joeri

AU - Stairs, Ingrid

AU - Jessner, Axel

AU - Cognard, Ismaël

AU - Kasian, Laura

AU - Lyne, Andrew

AU - Stappers, Ben W.

PY - 2019

Y1 - 2019

N2 - Binary pulsars are affected by general relativity (GR), causing the spin axis of each pulsar to precess. We present polarimetric radio observations of the pulsar PSR J1906+0746 that demonstrate the validity of the geometrical model of pulsar polarization. We reconstruct the (sky-projected) polarization emission map over the pulsar’s magnetic pole and predict the disappearance of the detectable emission by 2028. Two tests of GR are performed using this system, including the spin precession for strongly self-gravitating bodies. We constrain the relativistic treatment of the pulsar polarization model and measure the pulsar beaming fraction, with implications for the population of neutron stars and the expected rate of neutron star mergers.

AB - Binary pulsars are affected by general relativity (GR), causing the spin axis of each pulsar to precess. We present polarimetric radio observations of the pulsar PSR J1906+0746 that demonstrate the validity of the geometrical model of pulsar polarization. We reconstruct the (sky-projected) polarization emission map over the pulsar’s magnetic pole and predict the disappearance of the detectable emission by 2028. Two tests of GR are performed using this system, including the spin precession for strongly self-gravitating bodies. We constrain the relativistic treatment of the pulsar polarization model and measure the pulsar beaming fraction, with implications for the population of neutron stars and the expected rate of neutron star mergers.

U2 - 10.1126/science.aav7272

DO - 10.1126/science.aav7272

M3 - Article

SN - 0036-8075

VL - 365

SP - 1013

EP - 1017

JO - Science

JF - Science

IS - 6457

ER -

Radio emission from a pulsar’s magnetic pole revealed by general relativity

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