An OSSE Search for the Binary Radio Pulsar 1259-63
Abstract
We have searched data from the Oriented Scintillation Spectrometer Experiment (OSSE) on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (GRO) for evidence of low-energy gamma-ray emission from the binary radio pulsar PSR 1259-63. This 47 ms pulsar is in a long-period, highly eccentric orbit around a Be stellar companion and was observed by OSSE approximately 400 days after periastron. The period derivative allowed by the published radio ephemeris (Johnston et al. 1992) suggests that the pulsar might be relatively young, and therefore a gamma-ray source. However, the ephemeris is not sufficiently accurate to allow the traditional epoch folding technique over the full OSSE observation. Instead, the OSSE data were analyzed using Fourier transform spectral techniques after applying trial accelerations to correct for a range of possible orbital accelerations. We searched 48 accelerations; each FFT was 2(exp 29) points sampled at 2 ms, spanning ~10(exp 6) seconds of observation time. There was no evidence of pulsed emission in the 64-150 keV band, with a 99.9% confidence upper limit of 6x10(exp -3) photons sq cm s(exp -1) MeV(exp -1) or ~40 m Crab pulsars, which suggests that the pulsar's intrinsic period derivative is small and its magnetic field weak. This work was performed on the Concurrent Supercomputing Consortium's Intel Touchstone Delta parallel supercomputer as part of a GRO Phase I Guest Investigation.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1993
- Accession Number
- ADA464513
Entities
People
- J. D. Kurfess
- J. E. Grove
- M. P. Ulmer
- P. S. Ray
- T. A. Prince
Organizations
- California Institute of Technology