Astrophysics for five years studied the binary pulsar J1906, which is 25 thousand light years from Earth.
A team of scientists from the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy and the University of Amsterdam, led by Dr. Yuri van Leuven made measurement of relativistic space-time curvature in the gravitational field of a binary system consisting of a neutron star (or a white dwarf) and a rapidly rotating around another neutron star magnetized shortly before how to lose sight of them, according to a report published in the journal The Astrophysical Journal.
“The results of our work is very important as to determine the mass of a celestial body in its coast is extremely difficult. This is – a problem because the measurement of the mass is necessary for an accurate understanding of gravity as a force, which is closely related to the behavior of space and time at all levels of our universe “- said Yuri van Leuven.
The binary pulsar J1906, the orbital period of about four hours, is in the globular star cluster at a distance of 5 Terzian 7670 parsecs from the sun.
The pulsar was discovered in 2004 at Arecibo Observatory and emits beams of radio waves every 144 milliseconds. The explosion, which resulted in this pulsar was formed, there was a total of 100 thousand years ago, its dual system has not yet had time to enter into any stable state, and, figuratively speaking, mangles.
“Similarly, tracking the movement of the pulsar, we were able to measure the gravitational interaction between two very compact stars with the utmost precision. The weight of each of the two stars the mass of the Sun, but the distance between them is 100 times smaller than the distance from Earth to the sun. And as a result of extreme gravity causes multitude of interesting effects “, – says one of the co-authors of the study, Professor at the University of British Columbia Ingrid Steyrs.
One of these manifestations – geodetic precession. When you run a top, spinning top, not only himself, but also to its axis of rotation begins to describe a circle. According to the general theory of relativity, neutron stars, too, must experience during the precession motion in the gravitational well of a massive companion star. Turn after turn pulsar passes through the curved region of space-time, and this is reflected in the position of the rotational axis of the pulsar.
The researchers measured the precession of the pulsar J1906: due to the curvature of space-time orbit of the pulsar was shorter by about one-millionth of than if the orbit was held in flat space-time.
“During the year of observations of pulsar rotation axis orientation changed to 2.2 degrees,” – says Professor Steyrs.
“Pulsar is now out of sight, and it is now invisible for even the largest telescopes. We first observed as a pulsar disappeared as a result of the precession. This cosmic top again to appear in sight, when the axis outline the full circle, but it may take up to 160 years “, – said van Leeuwen.
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