| 7th of May 2024 |
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| The Timing of Pulsars in M62 |
| by Vleeschower et al. |
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Globular Clusters (GCs) are considered prime locations for discovering
millisecond pulsars (MSPs) due to their ultra-dense cores, which
promote the formation of binary systems containing neutron stars.
Within these systems, the neutron star can undergo spin-up through
mass accretion from its evolving companion.
Vleeschower et al.
present 23-yr-long timing solutions obtained using data from
Murriyang (the Parkes radiotelescope), Effelsberg, and MeerKAT for six pulsars
in the Globular Cluster M62.
The large timing baselines allowed the measurement of pulsar
parameters including proper motions, orbital period derivatives, and jerks,
which in turn allowed the determination of the line-of-sight accelerations.
All these results will be useful for future studies that can investigate
the detailed mass distribution of the cluster.
Additionally, the sensitive MeerKAT observations enabled the discovery
of three new millisecond pulsars (MSPs) in the cluster, all of which
are in binary systems,
The presence of only binary MSPs in this cluster challenges models
which suggest that the MSP population of core-collapsed clusters
should be dominated by isolated MSPs.
The figure above shows the timing residuals as a function of time obtained using Murriyang, Effelsberg and MeerKAT data for all the previously known pulsars using a data span of over 23 yr (A–F), and for the newly discovered pulsars with only MeerKAT solutions (G-I) using a data span of over 3 yr. The blue points indicate times of arrival from Parkes, the orange are from Effelsberg, while the green and pink points show the times of arrival from MeerTime and TRAPUM, respectively. |