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Burdge KB, Marsh TR, Fuller J, Bellm EC, Caiazzo I, Chakrabarty D, Coughlin MW, De K, Dhillon VS, Graham MJ, Rodríguez-Gil P, Jaodand AD, Kaplan DL, Kara E, Kong AKH, Kulkarni SR, Li KL, Littlefair SP, Majid WA, Mróz P, Pearlman AB, Phinney ES, Roestel JV, Simcoe RA, Andreoni I, Drake AJ, Dekany RG, Duev DA, Kool EC, Mahabal AA, Medford MS, Riddle R, Prince TA. A 62-minute orbital period black widow binary in a wide hierarchical triple. Nature 2022; 605:41-45. [PMID: 35508781 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04551-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2021] [Accepted: 02/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Over a dozen millisecond pulsars are ablating low-mass companions in close binary systems. In the original 'black widow', the eight-hour orbital period eclipsing pulsar PSR J1959+2048 (PSR B1957+20)1, high-energy emission originating from the pulsar2 is irradiating and may eventually destroy3 a low-mass companion. These systems are not only physical laboratories that reveal the interesting results of exposing a close companion star to the relativistic energy output of a pulsar, but are also believed to harbour some of the most massive neutron stars4, allowing for robust tests of the neutron star equation of state. Here we report observations of ZTF J1406+1222, a wide hierarchical triple hosting a 62-minute orbital period black widow candidate, the optical flux of which varies by a factor of more than ten. ZTF J1406+1222 pushes the boundaries of evolutionary models5, falling below the 80-minute minimum orbital period of hydrogen-rich systems. The wide tertiary companion is a rare low-metallicity cool subdwarf star, and the system has a Galactic halo orbit consistent with passing near the Galactic Centre, making it a probe of formation channels, neutron star kick physics6 and binary evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin B Burdge
- Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. .,Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
| | - Thomas R Marsh
- Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
| | - Jim Fuller
- Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.,TAPIR, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - Eric C Bellm
- DIRAC Institute, Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Ilaria Caiazzo
- Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.,TAPIR, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - Deepto Chakrabarty
- Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.,Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Michael W Coughlin
- School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Kishalay De
- Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - V S Dhillon
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.,Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, La Laguna, Spain
| | - Matthew J Graham
- Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - Pablo Rodríguez-Gil
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, La Laguna, Spain.,Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna, La Laguna, Spain
| | - Amruta D Jaodand
- Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - David L Kaplan
- Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA
| | - Erin Kara
- Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.,Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Albert K H Kong
- Institute of Astronomy, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan
| | - S R Kulkarni
- Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - Kwan-Lok Li
- Department of Physics, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
| | - S P Littlefair
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
| | - Walid A Majid
- Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.,Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - Przemek Mróz
- Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.,Astronomical Observatory, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Aaron B Pearlman
- Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.,Department of Physics, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.,McGill Space Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - E S Phinney
- Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.,TAPIR, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - Jan van Roestel
- Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - Robert A Simcoe
- Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.,Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Igor Andreoni
- Joint Space-Science Institute, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.,Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.,Astrophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
| | - Andrew J Drake
- Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - Richard G Dekany
- Caltech Optical Observatories, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - Dmitry A Duev
- Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.,Weights & Biases, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Erik C Kool
- The Oskar Klein Centre, Department of Astronomy, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Ashish A Mahabal
- Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.,Center for Data-Driven Discovery, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - Michael S Medford
- Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.,Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Reed Riddle
- Caltech Optical Observatories, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - Thomas A Prince
- Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
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