Discovery of the redback pulsar PSR J2053+6905 and multi-epoch optical observations of the system
9 affiliations
- 1Ioffe Institute , 26 Politekhnicheskaya, St. Petersburg, 194021 ,
- 2West Virginia University Department of Physics and Astronomy, , P.O. Box 6315, Morgantown, WV 26506 ,
- 3Center for Gravitational Waves and Cosmology, West Virginia University , Chestnut Ridge Research Building, Morgantown, WV 26505 ,
- 4Instituto de Astronomía, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México , Apdo. Postal 877, Baja California , , 22800
- 5Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University , 29 Polytechnicheskaya, St. Petersburg, 195251 ,
- 6Facultad de Ciencias Físico Matemáticas, Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila. Unidad Camporredondo , Edif. A, 25000, Saltillo, Coah. ,
- 7Ulugh Beg Astronomical Institute, Uzbekistan Academy of Sciences , Tashkent, 100052 ,
- 8Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias , Vía Láctea s/n, E38200, La Laguna, Tenerife ,
- 9GRANTECAN, Cuesta de San José s/n , E-38712, Breña Baja, La Palma ,
Abstract
Using the Green Bank Telescope, we discovered the 1.68-ms binary pulsar PSR J2053+6905. The discovery resulted from a targeted search for radio pulsations from a redback candidate, previously identified through optical and X-ray observations and spatially coincident with the γ-ray source 4FGL J2054.2+6904. We report the first results from the pulsar timing, including the spin period, dispersion measure, precisely measured Keplerian binary parameters, and the pulsar mass function. We also found potential evidence of scintillation and long radio eclipses. To constrain the system parameters, we performed multi-epoch time-series photometric observations using the 2.1-m telescope at the Observatorio Astronómico Nacional on the Sierra San Pedro Mártir (Mexico) and the 1.5-m telescope of the Maidanak Astronomical Observatory (Uzbekistan), complemented by time-series optical spectroscopy with the 10.4-m Gran Telescopio Canarias. The optical light curves revealed a pronounced asymmetry, as well as significant long-term variations. From the spectra, we derived a radial velocity curve semi-amplitude K = 337(4) km s−1. Combining it with the pulsar mass function, we constrained the ratio of pulsar and companion masses to Mp/Mc = 7.05(8). By fitting the stable segments of the light curves with a symmetric direct heating model, we derived constraints on the component masses (Mp ≈ 2.1 M⊙ and Mc ≈ 0.3 M⊙), the Roche lobe filling factor, and the companion’s day- and night-side temperatures. The long-term evolution of the light curve profiles is likely driven by the dissipation or migration of a cold stellar spot.
Related
- XMM-Newton Observation and Optical Monitoring of the Candidate Redback Millisecond Pulsar 1FGL J0523.5-2529
- Optical Follow-Up of Two Spider Pulsar Candidates: An Irradiated Redback and a Possible Double Giant Impostor
- Phase-resolved X-ray spectroscopy of the Vela pulsar with NICER observations
- APOLLO-Timing: Annealed Phase - Orbit Lattice Linking across Observations for Binary Pulsar Timing
- Comparing gravitational wave background predictions from cosmological simulations to pulsar timing observations
BibTeX
@article{karpova2026discovery,
title = {{Discovery of the redback pulsar PSR J2053+6905 and multi-epoch optical observations of the system}},
author = {A V Karpova and J D Taylor and A V Bobakov and A Kirichenko and D A Zyuzin and E Fonseca and S V Zharikov and D K Romanov and M Lucio-Mendoza and R Karimov and A Cabrera-Lavers},
journal = {Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.1093/mnras/stag2123},
url = {https://academic.oup.com/mnras/advance-article/doi/10.1093/mnras/stag2123/9013657},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Discovery of the redback pulsar PSR J2053+6905 and multi-epoch optical observations of the system
AU - A V Karpova
AU - J D Taylor
AU - A V Bobakov
AU - A Kirichenko
AU - D A Zyuzin
AU - E Fonseca
AU - S V Zharikov
AU - D K Romanov
AU - M Lucio-Mendoza
AU - R Karimov
AU - A Cabrera-Lavers
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/05
JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
DO - 10.1093/mnras/stag2123
UR - https://academic.oup.com/mnras/advance-article/doi/10.1093/mnras/stag2123/9013657
AB - Using the Green Bank Telescope, we discovered the 1.68-ms binary pulsar PSR J2053+6905. The discovery resulted from a targeted search for radio pulsations from a redback candidate, previously identified through optical and X-ray observations and spatially coincident with the γ-ray source 4FGL J2054.2+6904. We report the first results from the pulsar timing, including the spin period, dispersion measure, precisely measured Keplerian binary parameters, and the pulsar mass function. We also found potential evidence of scintillation and long radio eclipses. To constrain the system parameters, we performed multi-epoch time-series photometric observations using the 2.1-m telescope at the Observatorio Astronómico Nacional on the Sierra San Pedro Mártir (Mexico) and the 1.5-m telescope of the Maidanak Astronomical Observatory (Uzbekistan), complemented by time-series optical spectroscopy with the 10.4-m Gran Telescopio Canarias. The optical light curves revealed a pronounced asymmetry, as well as significant long-term variations. From the spectra, we derived a radial velocity curve semi-amplitude K = 337(4) km s−1. Combining it with the pulsar mass function, we constrained the ratio of pulsar and companion masses to Mp/Mc = 7.05(8). By fitting the stable segments of the light curves with a symmetric direct heating model, we derived constraints on the component masses (Mp ≈ 2.1 M⊙ and Mc ≈ 0.3 M⊙), the Roche lobe filling factor, and the companion’s day- and night-side temperatures. The long-term evolution of the light curve profiles is likely driven by the dissipation or migration of a cold stellar spot.
SN - 0035-8711
SN - 1365-2966
ER -