PSR J1227−6208 and its massive white dwarf companion: Pulsar emission analysis, timing update, and mass measurements

¹ Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, D-53121, Bonn, Germany
² Dept. of Materials and Production, Aalborg University, DK-9220 Aalborg Øst, Denmark
³ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari, via della Scienza 5, 09047 Selargius (CA), Italy
⁴ Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology, P.O. Box 218 Hawthorn, Vic 3122, Australia
⁵ SKA Observatory, Jodrell Bank, Lower Withington, Macclesfield SK11 9FT, United Kingdom
⁶ Australia Telescope National Facility, CSIRO, Space and Astronomy, PO Box 76 Epping, NSW 1710, Australia
⁷ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, Cape Town 7535, South Africa

Received: 14 May 2024
Accepted: 16 July 2024

Abstract

PSR J1227−6208 is a 34.53-ms recycled pulsar with a massive companion. This system has long been suspected to belong to the emerging class of massive recycled pulsar−ONeMg white dwarf systems such as PSR J2222−0137, PSR J1528−3146, and J1439−5501. Here, we present an updated emission and timing analysis with more than 11 years of combined Parkes and MeerKAT data, including 19 hours of high-frequency data from the newly installed MeerKAT S-band receivers. We measure a scattering timescale of 1.22 ms at 1 GHz with a flat scattering index of 3.33 < β < 3.62, and a mean flux density of 0.53 − 0.62 mJy at 1 GHz with a steep spectral index of 2.06 < α < 2.35. Around 15% of the emission is linearly and circularly polarised, but the polarisation angle does not follow the rotating vector model. Thanks to the sensitivity of MeerKAT, we successfully measure a rate of periastron advance of ω7 = 0.0171(11) deg yr⁻¹, and a Shapiro delay with an orthometric amplitude of h₃ = 3.6 ± 0.5 μs and an orthometric ratio of ς = 0.85 ± 0.05. The main source of uncertainty in our timing analysis is chromatic correlated dispersion measure noise, which we model as a power law in the Fourier space thanks to the large frequency coverage provided by the Parkes UWL receiver. Assuming general relativity and accounting for the measurements across all the implemented timing noise models, the total mass, companion mass, pulsar mass, and inclination angle are constrained at 2.3 < M_t/M_⊙ < 3.2, 1.21 < M_c/M_⊙ < 1.47, 1.16 < M_p/M_⊙ < 1.69, and 77.5 < i/deg < 80.3. We also constrain the longitude of ascending node to either Ω_a = 266 ± 78 deg or Ω_a = 86 ± 78 deg. We argue against a neutron star nature of the companion based on the very low orbital eccentric of the system (e = 1.15 × 10⁻³), and instead classify the companion of PSR J1227−6208 as a rare, massive ONeMg white dwarf close to the Chandrasekhar limit.