High precision timing of seven binary millisecond pulsars with the European Pulsar Timing Array
Abstract
Binary millisecond pulsars (MSPs) serve as exceptional astrophysical laboratories for a wide range of astrophysical studies, all of which rely on precise property measurements allowed by pulsar timing. In this paper, we present high-precision timing solutions for seven binary MSPs monitored by the European Pulsar Timing Array. By combining data collected from the five largest radio telescopes in Europe, as well as their coherently combined form, the Large European Array for Pulsars, we achieve phase-coherent timing solutions for all seven pulsars. We conduct a Bayesian timing and noise analysis on the combined data, yielding measurements of astrometric and orbital parameters with broadly improved precision, some reported for the first time. For PSRs J0125-2327, J1741+1351 and J2043+1711, we determine their distances and transverse velocities from astrometric measurements, and infer their masses via Shapiro delay measurements. Additionally, we examine the various contributions to the secular orbital-period variations for PSRs J0125-2327, J1125+7819 and J1741+1351, and estimate their kinematic distances. For PSRs J0125-2327 and J1741+1351, we detect the signature of annual-orbital parallax in the timing data. This allows us to derive a strongly favored, unique solution for the orbital ascending node and inclination angle for PSR J0125-2327, and a tightly constrained ascending node for PSR J1741+1351. Moreover, we use the orbital periods and their derivatives for several binary MSPs to place upper limits on gravitational-wave strain in both the sub-nanohertz and microhertz frequency regimes. Our results show that the orbits of binary MSPs could provide stringent constraints in microhertz range, thereby possibly complementing standard pulsar-timing-array analyses in the future.
Related
- The Origin of Isolated Millisecond Pulsars in Non-core-collapsed Globular Clusters
- Modes in Transitional Millisecond Pulsars: Evidence of Pulsar Wind-Induced Disk Heating from GRMHD and Radiative Transfer
- Searching for optical pulsations from spider millisecond pulsars with the fast photometer SiFAP2
- Timing Gravity with Pulsars in the Strong Field
- A possible evolutionary connection between high-mass X-ray binary pulsars and isolated rotation-powered pulsars
BibTeX
@misc{liu2026high,
title = {{High precision timing of seven binary millisecond pulsars with the European Pulsar Timing Array}},
author = {K. Liu and A. Chalumeau and H. Hu and S. Chen and L. Guillemot and J. Jang and M. Keith and J. Antoniadis and C. Bassa and A. Carleo and D. J. Champion and I. Cognard and G. H. Janssen and W. Jiang and R. Karuppusamy and E. F. Keane and M. Kramer and Y. Liu and M. B. Mickaliger and A. Parthasarathy and D. Perrodin and B. W. Stappers and G. Theureau and L. Wang},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2611.07363},
eprint = {2611.07363},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.07363},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - High precision timing of seven binary millisecond pulsars with the European Pulsar Timing Array
AU - K. Liu
AU - A. Chalumeau
AU - H. Hu
AU - S. Chen
AU - L. Guillemot
AU - J. Jang
AU - M. Keith
AU - J. Antoniadis
AU - C. Bassa
AU - A. Carleo
AU - D. J. Champion
AU - I. Cognard
AU - G. H. Janssen
AU - W. Jiang
AU - R. Karuppusamy
AU - E. F. Keane
AU - M. Kramer
AU - Y. Liu
AU - M. B. Mickaliger
AU - A. Parthasarathy
AU - D. Perrodin
AU - B. W. Stappers
AU - G. Theureau
AU - L. Wang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/05
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2611.07363
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.07363
AB - Binary millisecond pulsars (MSPs) serve as exceptional astrophysical laboratories for a wide range of astrophysical studies, all of which rely on precise property measurements allowed by pulsar timing. In this paper, we present high-precision timing solutions for seven binary MSPs monitored by the European Pulsar Timing Array. By combining data collected from the five largest radio telescopes in Europe, as well as their coherently combined form, the Large European Array for Pulsars, we achieve phase-coherent timing solutions for all seven pulsars. We conduct a Bayesian timing and noise analysis on the combined data, yielding measurements of astrometric and orbital parameters with broadly improved precision, some reported for the first time. For PSRs J0125-2327, J1741+1351 and J2043+1711, we determine their distances and transverse velocities from astrometric measurements, and infer their masses via Shapiro delay measurements. Additionally, we examine the various contributions to the secular orbital-period variations for PSRs J0125-2327, J1125+7819 and J1741+1351, and estimate their kinematic distances. For PSRs J0125-2327 and J1741+1351, we detect the signature of annual-orbital parallax in the timing data. This allows us to derive a strongly favored, unique solution for the orbital ascending node and inclination angle for PSR J0125-2327, and a tightly constrained ascending node for PSR J1741+1351. Moreover, we use the orbital periods and their derivatives for several binary MSPs to place upper limits on gravitational-wave strain in both the sub-nanohertz and microhertz frequency regimes. Our results show that the orbits of binary MSPs could provide stringent constraints in microhertz range, thereby possibly complementing standard pulsar-timing-array analyses in the future.
ER -