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Published July 5, 1990 | public
Journal Article

Discovery of Two Radio Pulsars in the Globular Cluster M15

Abstract

We report the discovery of two radio pulsars, 2127 + 11B and 2127-11C, in the globular cluster M15 (NGC7078), which also contains the 110-ms pulsar 2127 + 11A (ref. 1). Although only twenty globular cluster pulsars are known at present, the detection of three pulsars in a single cluster suggests that there might be a large total population of these objects, which would make them powerful probes of the dynamics and evolution of globular clusters. One of the new pulsars, 2127 +11C, is in a highly eccentric binary system with an 8-hour period. It is thus similar to the famous PSR1913 + 16 system, and study of the pulse arrival times can be expected to provide tests of general relativity, including gravitational wave emission. The companion of PSR2127 + 11C is probably either another neutron star or a massive white dwarf, suggesting that the core of M15 contains a high density of massive stellar remnants.

Additional Information

© 1990 Nature Publishing Group. Received 26 February; accepted 17 May 1990. We thank S. Phinney for discussions and G. Fox for collaboration. This work was supported by the NSF, the Department of Energy (US) and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Arecibo Observatory is operated by Cornell University under contract with the NSF.

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
October 26, 2023