Events Calendar
Probing White Dwarf Winds with Binary Pulsar Systems
Thursday May 3, 2018
| 2:00 pm
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Presenter: | Chris DiLullo (UNM) |
|---|---|---|
| Series: | Center for Astrophysics Research and Technologies Seminar Series | |
| Abstract: | Measuring pulsar dispersion measures (DMs) is a powerful method of studying the electron density of the interstellar medium (ISM). Pulsars in binary systems offer a unique chance to study the electron density present within the system due to the companion's stellar wind. Changes in DM that are periodic on timescales near the binary orbital period must be due to the pulse traveling through the stellar wind of the companion. I will discuss a study of four binary pulsar systems detected with the Long Wavelength Array (LWA) to search for periodic variations in dispersion measure. This study highlights a high precision method of detecting the stellar winds of binary companions and places constraints on the densities of white dwarf (WD) winds. These constraints are compared against simplistic predictions of WD wind densities derived using a toy model built upon previous work. I will also discuss this study's role as the beginning of collaboration between UNM and United Arab Emirates University (UAEU). | |
| Host: | Gregory Taylor | |
| Location: | PAIS-2540, PAIS | |
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