Green Bank Telescope Measurement of the Systemic Velocity of the Double Pulsar Binary J0737-3039 and Implications for its Formation
Abstract
We report on the measurement at 820- and 1400-MHz of orbital modulation of the diffractive scintillation timescale from pulsar A in the double-pulsar system J0737-3039 using the Green Bank Telescope. Fits to this modulation determine the systemic velocity in the plane of the sky to be Viss ~ 140.9 +/- 6.2 km/s. The parallel and perpendicular components of this velocity with respect to the line of nodes of the pulsar's orbit are Vplane ~ 96.0 +/- 3.7 km/s and Vperp ~ 103.1 +/- 7.7 km/s respectively. The large Vperp implies that pulsar B was born with a kick speed of >~ 100 km/s. Future VLBA determination of the angular proper motion in conjunction with improved Viss measurements should provide a precise distance to the system. Using high-precision timing data and the Viss model, we estimate a best-fit orbital inclination of i = 88.7 +/- 0.9 deg.
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