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A. Lyne (University of Manchester)
A multibeam survey for pulsars using the Parkes radio-telescope has discovered a 22-millisecond pulsar in a nearby 2.4-hour eccentric binary system with a companion which is a 2.7-second radio pulsar. This confirms for the first time the neutron-star nature of the companions in such systems. The discovery of this system has significant implications for the expected rate of coalescence of double-neutron-star systems which might be detected by gravitational wave detectors. Furthermore, the presence of the second detectable pulsar also promises to make this an important test-bed for new rigorous tests of strong-field gravity and general relativity and for probing the magnetospheres of radio pulsars.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 #3
© 2004. The American Astronomical Soceity.