Tomasz Nowakowski is a writer for Phys.org.
A recently discovered pulsar has a relatively long spin period. The results of the study were published on February 14 on the arXiv pre-print repository.
The rotating neutron stars emit a beam of radiation. They are usually detected in the form of short bursts of radio emission.
The spin period is 1,091 seconds. Transient radio bursts with durations of about a month are displayed, while the pulse width can be between 30 to 60 seconds. The rotational power of this pulsar was calculated to be less than 12 octillion erg/s, which is much smaller than the luminosity of the radio emission that is estimated to be about 40,000 erg/s.
The long period of radio pulsars and single neutron stars from other populations is a puzzle and challenges present theoretical models. Ali Arda Gençali of the University in Istanbul, Turkey, is the leader of the team that decided to investigate the long-term evolution of this pulsar.
The recent discovery of the very long-period pulsar, which has a spin period of 1,091 seconds, poses crucial questions for present theoretical models. Is it a member of a new population following an independent evolutionary path or is it connected to other populations?
The properties of GLEAM-XJ162759.5 may be a product of long-term evolution. They say that a long period can be reached by a neutron star evolving with a disk and a magnetic dipole at the equator.
There are two evolutionary scenarios that are compatible with the properties of the present. The first one states that the disk is still active and the source is in the accretion phase at an age of 300,000 years. It means that the period will increase up to a few thousand seconds with a period derivative at a level of 0.1 seconds/second, until the disk becomes inactive at an age of about 700,000 years.
The second scenario suggests that the disk is inactive. The period has leveled at the present value because of the dipole Torque. The source should be evolving with a period of about 4 attoseconds/second at the present age.
More information: Evolution of the long-period pulsar GLEAM-X J162759.5–523504.3, arXiv:2202.06852 [astro-ph.HE] arxiv.org/abs/2202.06852The Science X Network will be launched in 2022.
Citation: Research investigates evolution of a peculiar slowly-spinning pulsar (2022, February 22) retrieved 22 February 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-02-evolution-peculiar-slowly-spinning-pulsar.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
