Intermediate-Mass Binary Pulsars: a New Class of Objects?
Approximately 4/5 of the ∼ 35 millisecond pulsars known in the disk of the Galaxy are in binary systems. The vast majority of these binary pulsars have (presumed) helium white dwarf companions with massesm2< 0.45 M⊙, spin periodsP< 10 ms, and all are in extremely circular orbits (Fig. 1). In a search for millisecond pulsars with the Arecibo radio telescope, we have recently discovered PSR J1022+1001, a 16.45 ms pulsar in a 7.8 d orbit with a companion that is at least 0.73 M⊙, and is more likely as massive as 0.8−1.0M⊙; and PSR J0621+1002, a 28.85 ms pulsar in an 8.3 d orbit with a companion at least 0.45 M⊙, and more likely withm2≈ 0.54 M⊙. One other system, PSR J2145–0750, hasP= 16.05 ms, orbital periodPb= 6.8 d, andm2≈ 0.50 M⊙(see Table 1).