Einstein@Home discovers a radio-quiet gamma-ray millisecond pulsar

authored by: Colin J. Clark, Holger J. Pletsch, Jason Wu, Lucas Guillemot, Matthew Kerr, Tyrel J. Johnson, Fernando Camilo, David Salvetti, Bruce Allen, David Anderson, Carsten Aulbert, Christian Beer, Oliver Bock, Andres Cuéllar, Heinz Bernd Eggenstein, Henning Fehrmann, Michael Kramer, Shawn A. Kwang, Bernd MacHenschalk, Lars Nieder, Markus Ackermann, Marco Ajello, Luca Baldini, Jean Ballet, Guido Barbiellini, Denis Bastieri, Ronaldo Bellazzini, Elisabetta Bissaldi, Roger D. Blandford, Elliott D. Bloom, Raffaella Bonino, Eugenio Bottacini, Terri J. Brandt, Johan Bregeon, Philippe Bruel, Rolf Buehler, Toby H. Burnett, Sara Buson, Rob A. Cameron, Regina Caputo, Patrizia A. Caraveo, Elisabetta Cavazzuti, Claudia Cecchi, Eric Charles, Alexandre Chekhtman, Stefano Ciprini, Lynn R. Cominsky, Denise Costantin, Sara Cutini, Filippo D'Ammando, Andrea De Luca, Rachele Desiante, Leonardo Di Venere, Mattia Di Mauro, Niccolò Di Lalla, Seth W. Digel, Cecilia Favuzzi, Elizabeth C. Ferrara, Anna Franckowiak, Yasushi Fukazawa, Stefan Funk, Piergiorgio Fusco, Fabio Gargano, Dario Gasparrini, Nico Giglietto, Francesco Giordano, Marcello Giroletti, Germán A. Gomez-Vargas, David Green, Isabelle A. Grenier, Sylvain Guiriec, Alice K. Harding, John W. Hewitt, Deirdre Horan, Guolaugur Jóhannesson, Shiki Kensei, Michael Kuss, Giovanni La Mura, Stefan Larsson, Luca Latronico, Jian Li, Francesco Longo, Francesco Loparco, Michael N. Lovellette, Pasquale Lubrano, Jeffrey D. Magill, Simone Maldera, Alberto Manfreda, Mario N. Mazziotta, Julie E. McEnery, Peter F. Michelson, Nestor Mirabal, Warit Mitthumsiri, Tsunefumi Mizuno, Maria Elena Monzani, Aldo Morselli, Igor V. Moskalenko, Eric Nuss, Takashi Ohsugi, Nicola Omodei, Monica Orienti, Elena Orlando, Michele Palatiello, Vaidehi S. Paliya, Francesco De Palma, David Paneque, Jeremy S. Perkins, Massimo Persic, Melissa Pesce-Rollins, Troy A. Porter, Giacomo Principe, Silvia Rainò, Riccardo Rando, Paul S. Ray, Massimiliano Razzano, Anita Reimer, Olaf Reimer, Roger W. Romani, Pablo M.Saz Parkinson, Carmelo Sgrò, Eric J. Siskind, David A. Smith, Francesca Spada, Gloria Spandre, Paolo Spinelli, Jana B. Thayer, David J. Thompson, Diego F. Torres, Eleonora Troja, Giacomo Vianello, Kent Wood, Matthew Wood
Abstract: Millisecond pulsars (MSPs) are old neutron stars that spin hundreds of times per second and appear to pulsate as their emission beams cross our line of sight. To date,radio pulsations have been detected from all rotation-powered MSPs. In an attempt to discover radio-quiet gamma-ray MSPs,we used the aggregated power from the computers of tens of thousands of volunteers participating in the Einstein@Home distributed computing project to search for pulsations from unidentified gamma-ray sources in Fermi Large Area Telescope data. This survey discovered two isolated MSPs,one of which is the only known rotation-powered MSP to remain undetected in radio observations. These gamma-ray MSPs were discovered in completely blind searches without prior constraints from other observations,raising hopes for detecting MSPs from a predicted Galactic bulge population.
Organisation(s): Institute of Gravitation Physics
External Organisation(s): Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)
University of Manchester
Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR)
Universite d'Orleans
Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS)
U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL)
George Mason University
Square Kilometer Array (SKA)
INAF Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica, Bologna
University of Wisconsin Milwaukee
University of California at Berkeley
Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY)
Clemson University
University of Pisa
Universite Paris 7
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN)
University of Trieste
Sezione di Padova
University of Padova
Sezione di Pisa
Politecnico di Bari
Stanford University
University of Turin
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA-GSFC)
Laboratoire Univers et Particules de Montpellier
École Polytechnique
University of Washington
Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI)
University of Perugia
Sonoma State University
Institute for Radio Astronomy (IRA)
University of Bologna
Istituto Universitario di Studi Superiori (IUSS)
University of Udine
University of Maryland
Hiroshima University
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg)
Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile
George Washington University
University of North Florida
University of Iceland
NORDITA
Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)
Stockholm University
Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB)
Mahidol University
Università Telematica Pegaso
Max Planck Institute for Physics (Werner-Heisenberg Institute)
Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste
Innsbruck Medical University
University of California at Santa Cruz
The University of Hong Kong
NYCB Real-Time Computing Inc.
Universite de Bordeaux
Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA)
Praxis Inc.
Type: Article
Journal: Science advances
Volume: 4
ISSN: 2375-2548
Publication date: 28.02.2018
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: General
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aao7228 (Access: Open)

BibTeX

@article{2beb8b9e5a7141cb96f6990f80e6992f,
title = "Einstein@Home discovers a radio-quiet gamma-ray millisecond pulsar",
abstract = "Millisecond pulsars (MSPs) are old neutron stars that spin hundreds of times per second and appear to pulsate as their emission beams cross our line of sight. To date,radio pulsations have been detected from all rotation-powered MSPs. In an attempt to discover radio-quiet gamma-ray MSPs,we used the aggregated power from the computers of tens of thousands of volunteers participating in the Einstein@Home distributed computing project to search for pulsations from unidentified gamma-ray sources in Fermi Large Area Telescope data. This survey discovered two isolated MSPs,one of which is the only known rotation-powered MSP to remain undetected in radio observations. These gamma-ray MSPs were discovered in completely blind searches without prior constraints from other observations,raising hopes for detecting MSPs from a predicted Galactic bulge population.",
author = "Clark, {Colin J.} and Pletsch, {Holger J.} and Jason Wu and Lucas Guillemot and Matthew Kerr and Johnson, {Tyrel J.} and Fernando Camilo and David Salvetti and Bruce Allen and David Anderson and Carsten Aulbert and Christian Beer and Oliver Bock and Andres Cu{\'e}llar and Eggenstein, {Heinz Bernd} and Henning Fehrmann and Michael Kramer and Kwang, {Shawn A.} and Bernd MacHenschalk and Lars Nieder and Markus Ackermann and Marco Ajello and Luca Baldini and Jean Ballet and Guido Barbiellini and Denis Bastieri and Ronaldo Bellazzini and Elisabetta Bissaldi and Blandford, {Roger D.} and Bloom, {Elliott D.} and Raffaella Bonino and Eugenio Bottacini and Brandt, {Terri J.} and Johan Bregeon and Philippe Bruel and Rolf Buehler and Burnett, {Toby H.} and Sara Buson and Cameron, {Rob A.} and Regina Caputo and Caraveo, {Patrizia A.} and Elisabetta Cavazzuti and Claudia Cecchi and Eric Charles and Alexandre Chekhtman and Stefano Ciprini and Cominsky, {Lynn R.} and Denise Costantin and Sara Cutini and Filippo D'Ammando and {De Luca}, Andrea and Rachele Desiante and {Di Venere}, Leonardo and {Di Mauro}, Mattia and {Di Lalla}, Niccol{\`o} and Digel, {Seth W.} and Cecilia Favuzzi and Ferrara, {Elizabeth C.} and Anna Franckowiak and Yasushi Fukazawa and Stefan Funk and Piergiorgio Fusco and Fabio Gargano and Dario Gasparrini and Nico Giglietto and Francesco Giordano and Marcello Giroletti and Gomez-Vargas, {Germ{\'a}n A.} and David Green and Grenier, {Isabelle A.} and Sylvain Guiriec and Harding, {Alice K.} and Hewitt, {John W.} and Deirdre Horan and Guolaugur J{\'o}hannesson and Shiki Kensei and Michael Kuss and {La Mura}, Giovanni and Stefan Larsson and Luca Latronico and Jian Li and Francesco Longo and Francesco Loparco and Lovellette, {Michael N.} and Pasquale Lubrano and Magill, {Jeffrey D.} and Simone Maldera and Alberto Manfreda and Mazziotta, {Mario N.} and McEnery, {Julie E.} and Michelson, {Peter F.} and Nestor Mirabal and Warit Mitthumsiri and Tsunefumi Mizuno and Monzani, {Maria Elena} and Aldo Morselli and Moskalenko, {Igor V.} and Eric Nuss and Takashi Ohsugi and Nicola Omodei and Monica Orienti and Elena Orlando and Michele Palatiello and Paliya, {Vaidehi S.} and {De Palma}, Francesco and David Paneque and Perkins, {Jeremy S.} and Massimo Persic and Melissa Pesce-Rollins and Porter, {Troy A.} and Giacomo Principe and Silvia Rain{\`o} and Riccardo Rando and Ray, {Paul S.} and Massimiliano Razzano and Anita Reimer and Olaf Reimer and Romani, {Roger W.} and Parkinson, {Pablo M.Saz} and Carmelo Sgr{\`o} and Siskind, {Eric J.} and Smith, {David A.} and Francesca Spada and Gloria Spandre and Paolo Spinelli and Thayer, {Jana B.} and Thompson, {David J.} and Torres, {Diego F.} and Eleonora Troja and Giacomo Vianello and Kent Wood and Matthew Wood",
note = "Funding Information: We are grateful to the thousands of volunteers who have supported Einstein@Home. We also thank those volunteers whose computers discovered the new MSPs: PSR J1035-6720: {"}WSyS{"}; K. Kovacs,of Seattle,WA,USA,and the ATLAS Cluster,AEI,Hannover,Germany; PSR J1744-7619: D. Hoberer,of Gainesville,TX,USA,and the ATLAS Cluster,AEI,Hannover,Germany; I. Yakushin of Chicago,IL,USA,and the LIGO Laboratory,USA; and K. Pickstone of Oldham,UK. This work was supported by the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft,the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft through an Emmy Noether Research Grant [no. PL 710/1-1 (H.J.P.)],and NSF award 1104902. C.J.C. acknowledges support from the European Research Council under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 715051; Spiders). W.M. was partially supported by the Thailand Research Fund (grants TRG5880173 and RTA5980003). M.R. was funded by the Italian Ministry of Education,University and Research (contract no. FIRB-2012-RBFR12PM1F). Work at the Naval Research Laboratory is supported by NASA. The Parkes Observatory is part of the Australia Telescope,funded by the Commonwealth of Australia for operation as a National Facility managed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). The Fermi LAT Collaboration acknowledges generous ongoing support from a number of agencies and institutes that have supported both the development and the operation of the LAT,as well as scientific data analysis. These include the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Department of Energy in the United States,the Commissariat {\`a} l'Energie Atomique and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/Institut National de Physique Nucl{\'e}aire et de Physique des Particules in France; the Agenzia Spaziale Italiana and the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare in Italy,the Ministry of Education,Culture,Sports,Science and Technology (MEXT),High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK),and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in Japan; and the K. A. Wallenberg Foundation,the Swedish Research Council,and the Swedish National Space Board in Sweden. Additional support for science analysis during the operations phase is gratefully acknowledged from the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica in Italy and the Centre National d'{\'E}tudes Spatiales in France. This work performed in part under DOE Contract DE-AC02-76SF00515.",
year = "2018",
month = feb,
day = "28",
doi = "10.1126/sciadv.aao7228",
language = "English",
volume = "4",
journal = "Science advances",
issn = "2375-2548",
publisher = "American Association for the Advancement of Science",
number = "2",
}