Searching for Exotrojans in Pulsar Systems
Abstrak
Trojan asteroids are found in the equilateral triangle Lagrange points of the Sun–Jupiter system in a great number, although they also exist less prolifically in other parts of the solar system. Despite up to planetary mass Trojans being predicted in extrasolar systems (i.e., exotrojans), they remain unconfirmed, although strong candidate evidence has emerged recently. For the first time, we extend the search for exotrojans to radio pulsars with low-mass (∼0.01 M _⊙ ) companions using accurately measured pulse times of arrival. With techniques developed for detecting the reflex motion of a star due to a librating Trojan, we place ∼1 M _⊕ upper mass constraints on potential exotrojans around eight pulsars observed in the NANOGrav 15 yr dataset. We find weak evidence consistent with ∼2–4 M _J exotrojans in the PSR J0023+0923 and PSR J1705−1903 binary systems, although the signals likely have a different, unknown source. We also place a libration-independent upper mass constraint of ∼8 M _J on exotrojans in the PSR J1641+8049 system by looking for an inconsistency between the times of superior conjunction as measured by optical light curves and those predicted by radio timing. These results offer initial observational constraints on the existence of exotrojans around pulsars, while their possible formation mechanisms remain unexplored.
Topik & Kata Kunci
Penulis (53)
Jackson D. Taylor
Emmanuel Fonseca
Lankeswar Dey
Sergey Zharikov
Aida Kirichenko
Joseph Glaser
Gabriella Agazie
Akash Anumarlapudi
Anne M. Archibald
Zaven Arzoumanian
Paul T. Baker
Paul R. Brook
H. Thankful Cromartie
Kathryn Crowter
Megan E. DeCesar
Paul B. Demorest
Timothy Dolch
Elizabeth C. Ferrara
William Fiore
Gabriel E. Freedman
Nate Garver-Daniels
Peter A. Gentile
Deborah C. Good
Jeffrey S. Hazboun
Ross J. Jennings
Megan L. Jones
David L. Kaplan
Matthew Kerr
Michael T. Lam
T. Joseph W. Lazio
Duncan R. Lorimer
Jing Luo
Ryan S. Lynch
Alexander McEwen
Maura A. McLaughlin
Natasha McMann
Bradley W. Meyers
Cherry Ng
David J. Nice
Timothy T. Pennucci
Benetge B. P. Perera
Nihan S. Pol
Henri A. Radovan
Scott M. Ransom
Paul S. Ray
Ann Schmiedekamp
Carl Schmiedekamp
Brent J. Shapiro-Albert
Ingrid H. Stairs
Kevin Stovall
Abhimanyu Susobhanan
Joseph K. Swiggum
Haley M. Wahl
Akses Cepat
- Tahun Terbit
- 2026
- Sumber Database
- DOAJ
- DOI
- 10.3847/1538-4357/ae4317
- Akses
- Open Access ✓