Discovery of a 24-millisecond pulsar in a very long orbit with the Murchison Widefield Array

Abstract

We report the discovery of PSR J0125$-$5854, a pulsar with a spin period of 24 ms and a dispersion measure of 11.66 pc cm$^-3$ in the ongoing Southern-sky MWA Rapid Two-metre (SMART) survey with the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA). The pulsar is located at a high Galactic latitude of $-57^{\circ}$, and at a distance of 0.5$\text{-}$1 kpc per the Galactic electron density models. Follow-up observations with the MWA and MeerKAT telescopes have revealed that this pulsar is in a binary system with an orbital period of more than 290 days, and a steep spectrum (flux density, $ S \propto ν^α $, where $ν$ is frequency and $ α= -2.2 \pm 0.3 $). Analysis of current observational data hints at a potential binary configuration with an orbital period of $833.60 \pm 0.04$ days, a projected semi-major axis of $241.36 \pm 0.05$ light-seconds, and a minimum companion mass $0.4152 \pm 0.0001$ M$_\odot$, with a low eccentricity orbit of $0.0052 \pm 0.0006$. We discuss the potential formation channels for this system, and conjecture that the companion is likely a Helium white dwarf. Further observations are required in order to better constrain the orbital and spin parameters. We discuss the implications of this discovery, which emerged after processing a small fraction of survey data, on the prospects of finding more millisecond pulsars with the SMART survey, and with future surveys planned with the low-frequency SKA-Low.