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Published May 20, 2008 | Published
Journal Article Open

Precision timing of PSR J0437-4715 : an accurate pulsar distance, a high pulsar mass, and a limit on the variation of Newton's gravitational constant

Abstract

Analysis of 10 years of high-precision timing data on the millisecond pulsar PSR J0437–4715 has resulted in a model-independent kinematic distance based on an apparent orbital period derivative, P_b, determined at the 1.5% level of precision (D_k = 157.0 ± 2.4 pc), making it one of the most accurate stellar distance estimates published to date. The discrepancy between this measurement and a previously published parallax distance estimate is attributed to errors in the DE200 solar system ephemerides. The precise measurement of P_b allows a limit on the variation of Newton's gravitational constant, |G/G| ≤ 23 × 10^−12 yr^−1. We also constrain any anomalous acceleration along the line of sight to the pulsar to |a⊙/c| ≤ 1.5 × 10^−18 s^−1 at 95% confidence, and derive a pulsar mass, m_(psr) = 1.76 ± 0.20 M⊙, one of the highest estimates so far obtained.

Additional Information

© 2008 The American Astronomical Society. Received 2007 October 4; accepted 2008 January 16. The Parkes Observatory is part of the Australia Telescope which is funded by the Commonwealth of Australia for operation as a National Facility managed by CSIRO. We thank the staff at Parkes Observatory for technical assistance during regular observations. B. A. J holds a National Research Council Research Associateship Award at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). Basic research in radio astronomy at NRL is supported by the Office of Naval Research. The authors wish to express their gratitude to William Coles from the University of California at San Diego, for extensive discussion and help with the Monte Carlo error analysis. Finally, we thank the referee for valuable and inspiring comments. Facilities: Parkes.

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Created:
August 22, 2023
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October 18, 2023