What are pulsar companions made of? Using gravitational tides to probe their compositions

Low eccentricity, short orbital period pulsar companions may provide a probe to study novel dense and stable exoplanet internal compositions due to the potentially significant orbital evolution they experience caused by strong gravitational tides. We model the tidal characteristics such as apsidal motion constants, orbital precession, and tidal deformability for a variety of equations of state to be compared with values recovered via pulsar timing for a sample of four systems: PSR J1719-1438b, PSR J0636+5128b, PSR J2322+2650b, and PSR J1807-2459A b. With this method, we hope to place stringent limits on the chemical and structural composition of these objects. Through limiting the internal composition of pulsar companions, we aim to elucidate their unique history and formation.

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Publication Details

Journal
Physical review. D/Physical review. D.
Published
2026-10-14
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1103/mh8d-1b6b
Primary Topic
Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

What are pulsar companions made of? Using gravitational tides to probe their compositions

M. Grant Roberts, Stefano Profumo, Liam Colombo-Murphy, Aya L. Westerling et al.
Physical review. D/Physical review. D.
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article

What are pulsar companions made of? Using gravitational tides to probe their compositions

M. Grant Roberts, Stefano Profumo, Liam Colombo-Murphy, Aya L. Westerling, Lucas Brown
article en

Abstract

Low eccentricity, short orbital period pulsar companions may provide a probe to study novel dense and stable exoplanet internal compositions due to the potentially significant orbital evolution they experience caused by strong gravitational tides. We model the tidal characteristics such as apsidal motion constants, orbital precession, and tidal deformability for a variety of equations of state to be compared with values recovered via pulsar timing for a sample of four systems: PSR J1719-1438b, PSR J0636+5128b, PSR J2322+2650b, and PSR J1807-2459A b. With this method, we hope to place stringent limits on the chemical and structural composition of these objects. Through limiting the internal composition of pulsar companions, we aim to elucidate their unique history and formation.

Physical review. D/Physical review. D.
U.S. Department of Energy
Openalex Percentile: Top 74%
Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research
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