Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jul 1995
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1995hst..prop.6126f&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #6126
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Hst Proposal Id #6126 Hot Stars
Scientific paper
Understanding the age and evolutionary history of millisecond pulsars can be greatly enhanced by careful multi-color photometry of the white dwarf companions to binary millisecond pulsars. Twenty two millisecond pulsars have been identified with low-mass companions, the majority being 0.1 to 0.6 Msun white dwarfs. We have selected the six most promising pulsar-white dwarf systems for study with HST. Photometry in B, V, and I filters will be used to determine the cooling age of the dwarf star independent of evolutionary arguments made from timing measurements of the pulsar. In several cases the estimated companion mass, determined from the luminosity, will place significant upper bounds on the neutron star mass, potentially revealing clues about both the supernova explosion which created the neutron star, and the later accretion which spun it up to millisecond periods. Astrometric observations of the white dwarfs will serve as a first epoch of proper motion measurements important for distinguishing between supernova and accretion induced collapse models for millisecond pulsar formation. Finally, the astrometry will enable us to measure the rotation of the optical reference frame relative to the radio and dynamical reference frames made from independent pulsar observations.
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