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J. Middleditch (Los Alamos National Laboratory)
PSR J0034-0534 is the third fastest pulsar known, with a spin frequency of 532.7 rotations per second, which puts it in the Chen Gap -- too fast to have been produced by the merger of two white dwarfs, as cores of massive stars or not (Middleditch 2004). It has the record low estimated magnetic field strength of 108 Gauss. It is also unique in that its pulse profile is the widest of any known radio pulsar, ~ 0.85 ms, or 45% of the period (Bailes et al.~1994). PSR J0034-0534 also has a near record steep spectrum for its pulsed flux density, in addition to having a companion in a low inclination 1.6 day binary system. I argue here that many of the unusual characteristics of PSR J0034-0534 are due to a mass so large that it's pulse beam is broadened by the very high gravitational field near the surface of the neutron star (after Ftaclas, Kearney, & Pechenick 1986). I will investigate the possibility that PSR J0034-0534 was originally a neutron star of about 1.3 solar masses which merged with a white dwarf binary companion of about 0.7 solar masses.
This work was performed under the auspices of the Department of Energy
Bailes, M. et al. 1994, ApJ, 425, L41
Ftaclas, C., Kearney, W., & Pechenick, K. 1986, ApJ, 300, 203
Middleditch, J. 2004, ApJ, 601, L167
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: jon@lanl.gov
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 #2
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