The Discovery of Six Recycled Pulsars from the Arecibo 327-MHz Drift-Scan Pulsar Survey

Abstract

Recycled pulsars are old ($\gtrsim10^{8}$ yr) neutron stars that are descendants from close, interacting stellar systems. In order to understand their evolution and population, we must find and study the largest number possible of recycled pulsars in a way that is as unbiased as possible. In this work, we present the discovery and timing solutions of five recycled pulsars in binary systems (PSRs J0509$+$0856, J0709$+$0458, J0732$+$2314, J0824$+$0028, J2204$+$2700) and one isolated millisecond pulsar (PSR J0154$+$1833). These were found in data from the Arecibo 327-MHz Drift-Scan Pulsar Survey (AO327). All these pulsars have a low dispersion measure (DM) ($\lesssim 45 \, \rm{pc}\, cm^{-3}$), and have a DM-determined distance of $\lesssim$ 3 kpc. Their timing solutions, have data spans ranging from 1 to $\sim$ 7 years, include precise estimates of their spin and astrometric parameters, and for the binaries, precise estimates of their Keplerian binary parameters. Their orbital periods range from about 4 to 815 days and the minimum companion masses (assuming a pulsar mass of 1.4 $\rm{M_{\odot}}$) range from $\sim$ 0.06--1.11 $\rm{M_{\odot}}$. For two of the binaries we detect post-Keplerian parameters; in the case of PSR~J0709$+$0458 we measure the component masses but with a low precision, in the not too distant future the measurement of the rate of advance of periastron and the Shapiro delay will allow very precise mass measurements for this system. Like several other systems found in the AO327 data, PSRs J0509$+$0854, J0709$+$0458 and J0732$+$2314 are now part of the NANOGrav timing array for gravitational wave detection.