Pulsars, transients and relativistic astrophysics

Abstract:

Context. Globular clusters (GCs) contain a unique pulsar population, with many exotic systems that can form only in their dense stellar environments. Such systems are potentially very interesting for new tests of gravity theories and neutron-star mass measurements.

Aims. The leap in sensitivity of the upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (uGMRT) in India, especially at low radio frequencies (< 1 GHz), motivated a new search for radio pulsars in a group of eight southern GCs. We aim to image these clusters in order to have independent measurements of the radio fluxes of known pulsars and the identification of bright radio sources that could be pulsars missed by pulsation search pipelines due to their inherent limitations.

Methods. The observations were conducted at 650 MHz (Band 4 receivers) on Terzan 5, NGC 6441, NGC 6440, and NGC 6544, and at 400 MHz (Band 3 receivers) on NGC 6652, NGC 6539, NGC 1851, and M 30. Segmented acceleration and jerk searches were performed on the data. Simultaneously, we obtained interferometric data on these clusters, which were later converted into radio images.

Results. We discovered PSR J1835−3259B, a 1.83-ms pulsar in NGC 6652; this is in a near-circular wide orbit of 28.7-h with an unidentified low-mass (∼0.2 M_⊙) companion, likely a helium white dwarf. We derived a ten-year timing solution for this system. We also present measurements of scattering, flux densities, and spectral indices for some of the previously known pulsars in these GCs.

Conclusions. A significant fraction of the pulsars in these clusters have steep spectral indices. Additionally, we detected eight radio point sources not associated with any known pulsar positions in the radio images. There are four newly identified sources, three in NGC 6652 and one in NGC 6539, as well as one previously identified source in NGC 1851, NGC 6440, NGC 6544, and Terzan 5. Surprisingly, our images show that our newly discovered pulsar, PSR J1835−3259B, is the brightest pulsar in all GCs we have imaged; like other pulsars with broad profiles (Terzan 5 C and O), its flux density in the radio images is much larger than in its pulsations. This indicates that their pulsed emission is only a fraction of their total emission. The detection of radio sources outside the core radii but well within the tidal radii of these clusters show that future GC surveys should complement the search analysis by using the imaging capability of interferometers, and preferentially synthesise large number of search beams in order to obtain a larger field of view.

Abstract:

Galactic nuclei (GNs) are dense stellar environments abundant in gravitational-wave (GW) sources for the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), Virgo, and Kamioka Gravitational Wave Detector (KAGRA). The GWs may be generated by stellar-mass black hole (BH) or neutron star mergers following gravitational bremsstrahlung, dynamical scattering encounters, Kozai–Lidov-type oscillations driven by the central supermassive black hole (SMBH), or gas-assisted mergers if present. In this paper, we examine a smoking gun signature to identify sources in GNs: the GWs scattered by the central SMBH. This produces a secondary signal, an astrophysical GW echo, which has a very similar time–frequency evolution as the primary signal but arrives after a time delay. We determine the amplitude and time-delay distribution of the GW echo as a function of source distance from the SMBH. Between ∼10 per cent and 90 per cent of the detectable echoes arrive within ∼(1--100)M₆s after the primary GW for sources between 10 and 10⁴ Schwarzschild radius, where M₆=M_SMBH,z/ (10⁶M_⊙), and M_{SMBH, z} is the observer-frame SMBH mass. The echo arrival times are systematically longer for high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) primary GWs, where the GW echo rays are scattered at large deflection angles. In particular, ∼10 per cent--90 per cent of the distribution is shifted to ∼(5--1800)M₆s for sources, where the lower limit of echo detection is 0.02 of the primary signal amplitude. We find that ∼5 per cent--30 per cent(⁠∼1 per cent--7 per cent⁠) of GW sources have an echo amplitude larger than 0.2–0.05 times the amplitude of the primary signal if the source distance from the SMBH is 50 (200) Schwarzschild radius. Non-detections can rule out that a GW source is near an SMBH.