Informal Pizza Seminar
The Incredible Double-Pulsar Binary J0737-3039:
A pulsar `Holy Grail' at last
Scott Ransom
McGill
This past December an international collaboration anounced what is arguably
the most important pulsar system yet discovered - a nearby (~600 pc), compact
(orbital period 2.4 hrs), highly relativistic, and eclipsing double-pulsar
binary. This system displays an amazing variety of rare and/or unique
phenomena and promises to revolutionize our understanding of many areas of
pulsar physics. In this talk I will briefly describe the genesis of the
system, its current behaviour, and predictions for its future. I will also
describe recent Green Bank Telescope observations of the pulsars that
constrain eclipse and flux variability mechanisms, the orbital and spin
geometries, as well as the magnitude and direction of the `kick'
imparted by the second supernova. In addition, we have made one of the most
precise tests of General relativity to date.
Monday, February 16th 2004, 13:30
Ernest Rutherford Physics Building, room 326
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