Toward an understanding of the periastron puzzle of PSR B1259-63

Abstract

Efforts are made to understand the timing behaviors (e.g., the jumps of the projected pulsar semimajor axis in the periastron passages) observed via 13-year timing for PSR B1259-63. In the first, planet-like objects are suggested to orbit around the Be star, which may gravitationally perturb the (probably low mass) pulsar when it passes through periastron. Second, an accretion disk should exist outside the pulsar's light cylinder, which creates a spindown torque on the pulsar due to the propeller effect. The observed negative braking index and the discrepant timing residuals close to periastron could be relevant to the existence of the disk with varying accretion rates. Third, a speculation is presented that the accretion rate may increase on a long timescale in order to explain the negative braking index.