Binary Millisecond Pulsar Discovery via Gamma-Ray Pulsations

Pletsch, H. J.; Guillemot, L.; Fehrmann, H.; Allen, B.; Kramer, M.; Aulbert, C.; Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.; de Angelis, A.; Atwood, W. B.; Baldini, L.; Ballet, J.; Barbiellini, G.; Bastieri, D.; Bechtol, K.; Bellazzini, R.; Borgland, A. W.; Bottacini, E.; Brandt, T. J.; Bregeon, J.; Brigida, M.; Bruel, P.; Buehler, R.; Buson, S.; Caliandro, G. A.; Cameron, R. A.; Caraveo, P. A.; Casandjian, J. M.; Cecchi, C.; Celik, Oe; Charles, E.; Chaves, R. C. G.; Cheung, C. C.; Chiang, J.; Ciprini, S.; Claus, R.; Cohen Tanugi, J.; Conrad, J.; Cutini, S.; D'Ammando, F.; Dermer, C. D.; Digel, S. W.; Drell, P. S.; Drlica Wagner, A.; Dubois, R.; Dumora, D.; Favuzzi, C.; Ferrara, E. C.; Franckowiak, A.; Fukazawa, Y.; Fusco, Piergiorgio; Gargano, F.; Gehrels, N.; Germani, S.; Giglietto, N.; Giordano, Francesco; Giroletti, M.; Godfrey, G.; Grenier, I. A.; Grondin, M. H.; Grove, J. E.; Guiriec, S.; Hadasch, D.; Hanabata, Y.; Harding, A. K.; den Hartog, P. R.; Hayashida, M.; Hays, E.; Hill, A. B.; Hou, X.; Hughes, R. E.; Johannesson, G.; Jackson, M. S.; Jogler, T.; Johnson, A. S.; Johnson, W. N.; Kataoka, J.; Kerr, M.; Knoedlseder, J.; Kuss, M.; Lande, J.; Larsson, S.; Latronico, L.; Lemoine Goumard, M.; Longo, F.; Loparco, Francesco; Lovellette, M. N.; Lubrano, P.; Massaro, F.; Mayer, M.; Mazziotta, M. N.; Mcenery, J. E.; Mehault, J.; Michelson, P. F.; Mitthumsiri, W.; Mizuno, T.; Monzani, M. E.; Morselli, A.; Moskalenko, I. V.; Murgia, S.; Nakamori, T.; Nemmen, R.; Nuss, E.; Ohno, M.; Ohsugi, T.; Omodei, N.; Orienti, M.; Orlando, E.; de Palma, F.; Paneque, D.; Perkins, J. S.; Piron, F.; Pivato, G.; Porter, T. A.; Raino', Silvia; Rando, R.; Ray, P. S.; Razzano, M.; Reimer, A.; Reimer, O.; Reposeur, T.; Ritz, S.; Romani, R. W.; Romoli, C.; Sanchez, D. A.; Saz, Parkinson P. M.; Schulz, A.; Sgro, C.; do Couto, e. Silva E.; Siskind, E. J.; Smith, D. A.; Spandre, G.; Spinelli, Paolo; Suson, D. J.; Takahashi, H.; Tanaka, T.; Thayer, J. B.; Thayer, J. G.; Thompson, D. J.; Tibaldo, L.; Tinivella, M.; Troja, E.; Usher, T. L.; Vandenbroucke, J.; Vasileiou, V.; Vianello, G.; Vitale, V.; Waite, A. P.; Winer, B. L.; Wood, K. S.; Wood, M.; Yang, Z.; Zimmer, S.

doi:10.1126/science.1229054

Millisecond pulsars, old neutron stars spun up by accreting matter from a companion star, can reach high rotation rates of hundreds of revolutions per second. Until now, all such "recycled" rotation-powered pulsars have been detected by their spin-modulated radio emission. In a computing-intensive blind search of gamma-ray data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope (with partial constraints from optical data), we detected a 2.5-millisecond pulsar, PSR J1311-3430. This unambiguously explains a formerly unidentified gamma-ray source that had been a decade-long enigma, confirming previous conjectures. The pulsar is in a circular orbit with an orbital period of only 93 minutes, the shortest of any spin-powered pulsar binary ever found.