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A dynamically discovered and characterized non-accreting neutron star–M dwarf binary candidate

Nature Astronomy volume 6, pages 1203–1212 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Typically, neutron stars are discovered by observations at radio, X-ray or gamma-ray wavelengths. Unlike radio pulsar surveys and X-ray observations, optical time-domain surveys can unveil and characterize exciting but less explored non-accreting and/or non-beaming neutron stars in binaries. Here we report the discovery of such a neutron star candidate using the LAMOST spectroscopic survey. The candidate, designated LAMOST J112306.9 + 400736, is in a single-lined spectroscopic binary containing an optically visible M star. The star’s large radial velocity variation and ellipsoidal variations indicate a relatively massive unseen companion. Utilizing follow-up spectroscopy from the Palomar 200 in. telescope and high-precision photometry from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, we measure a companion mass of \(1.2{4}_{-0.03}^{+0.03}\,{M}_{\odot }\). Main-sequence stars with this mass are ruled out, leaving a neutron star or a massive white dwarf. Although a massive white dwarf cannot be excluded, the lack of UV excess radiation from the companion supports the neutron star hypothesis. Deep radio observations with the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) yielded no detections of either pulsed or persistent emission. J112306.9 + 400736 is not detected in numerous X-ray and gamma-ray surveys, suggesting that the neutron star candidate is not currently accreting and pulsing. Our work exemplifies the capability of discovering compact objects in non-accreting close binaries by synergizing optical time-domain spectroscopy and high-cadence photometry.

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Fig. 1: The phase-folded RV curve and the multiband light curves for J1123.
Fig. 2: The broadband SED of J1123.
Fig. 3: The mass of the visible star (M1) versus that of the hidden compact object (M2).
Fig. 4: Phase-stacked Balmer (Hα–Hγ) emission lines, and Ca ii H&K emission lines.
Fig. 5: The viewing wheel of J1123 that summarizes our best understanding of the system.

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Data availability

The LAMOST low-resolution spectra can be queried at https://nadc.china-vo.org/data/data/sedr5/f?&locale=en. Raw TESS data are available from the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes portal: https://archive.stsci.edu/missions-and-data/tess. The data can also be obtained from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Code availability

The Lomb–Scargle module is publicly available on https://github.com/TuanYi/LombScargle. Reasonable requests for other materials and codes should be addressed to W.-M.G. (guwm@xmu.edu.cn).

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Acknowledgements

We thank Y.-J. Lei, D. Price, A. Heger, C.-Y. Song, D. Li, X.-D. Chen, W.-K. Zong, X.-G. Wang, Q.-Y. Wu, J.-H. Liu, X.-D. Fu, Y.-P. Yang, X.-W. Liu, Y.-H. Song and T.R. Marsh for beneficial discussions. W.-M.G. acknowledges support from the National Key R&D Program of China under grant 2021YFA1600401, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) under grants 11925301 and 12033006. M.-Y.S. acknowledges support from the NSFC under grant 11973002. J.-F.L. acknowledges support from the NSFC under grants 11988101 and 11933004. Z.-X.Z. acknowledges support from the NSFC under grant 12103041. J.-F. Wang acknowledges support from the NSFC under grant U1831205. J.-F. Wu acknowledges support from the NSFC under grant U1938105. X.-D.L. acknowledges support from the NSFC under grants 12041301 and 12121003. P.W. acknowledges support from the NSFC under grant U2031117, the Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS (id 2021055), CAS Project for Young Scientists in Basic Research (grant YSBR-006) and the Cultivation Project for FAST Scientific Payoff and Research Achievement of CAMS-CAS. J.-R.S. acknowledges support from the NSFC under grant 12090044. J.Z. acknowledges support from the NSFC under grant 11933008. H.-J.M. acknowledges support from the NSFC under grant 12103047. T.Y. acknowledges support from the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation under grant 2021M702742. Guoshoujing Telescope (LAMOST) is a National Major Scientific Project built by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Funding for the project has been provided by the National Development and Reform Commission. LAMOST is operated and managed by the National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences. This research uses data obtained through the Telescope Access Program (TAP), which has been funded by the TAP member institutes. This work made use of the data from FAST. FAST is a Chinese national mega-science facility, operated by National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Funding for the TESS mission is provided by NASA’s Science Mission directorate. This research made use of Lightkurve, a Python package for Kepler and TESS data analysis37. Based on observations obtained with the Samuel Oschin 48 in. Telescope at the Palomar Observatory as part of the ZTF project. ZTF is supported by the National Science Foundation under grant AST-1440341 and a collaboration including Caltech, IPAC, the Weizmann Institute for Science, the Oskar Klein Center at Stockholm University, the University of Maryland, the University of Washington, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron and Humboldt University, Los Alamos National Laboratories, the TANGO Consortium of Taiwan, the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories. Operations are conducted by COO, IPAC and UW.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Astronomy, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China

    Tuan Yi, Wei-Min Gu, Zhi-Xiang Zhang, Ling-Lin Zheng, Mouyuan Sun, Junfeng Wang, Jianfeng Wu, Qingzheng Yu, Jin-Bo Fu, Senyu Qi & Jing Guo

  2. National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Zhongrui Bai, Pei Wang, Yu Bai, Song Wang, Haotong Zhang, Xuan Fang, Chuanjie Zheng, Chun-Qian Li, Jian-Rong Shi & Jifeng Liu

  3. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Davis, CA, USA

    Yize Dong

  4. Department of Astronomy, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China

    Yong Shao & Xiang-Dong Li

  5. Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China

    Jia Zhang

  6. South-Western Institute for Astronomy Research, Yunnan University, Kunming, China

    Yang Huang

  7. Department of Astronomy, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

    Fan Yang

  8. International Laboratory for Quantum Functional Materials of Henan and School of Physics and Microelectronics, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China

    Hui-Jun Mu

  9. School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Chuanjie Zheng, Jian-Rong Shi & Jifeng Liu

  10. Department of Physics, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China

    Huanyang Chen

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Contributions

T.Y., W.-M.G. and J.-F.L. led the project. W.-M.G. proposed the follow-up optical observations and coordinated the spectroscopic and photometric data reduction and analysis, with substantial inputs from T.Y., M.-Y.S., Z.-X.Z., S.W., Y.B. and L.-L.Z. Z.-R.B. and H.-T.Z. contributed to the early discovery of J1123. W.-M.G., J.-F. Wang and J.-F. Wu contributed their expertise on the P200 proposals and observations. Y.B. and Z.-X.Z. contributed to the P200 data reduction and analyses. T.Y., Q.-Z.Y. and W.-M.G. proposed the follow-up radio observations. P.W. contributed to the expertise of FAST’s data reduction and analyses. Z.-X.Z. and M.-Y.S. solved the orbital solution using PHOEBE; S.W. and J.Z. validated the orbital solution independently. T.Y., W.-M.G., M.-Y.S., J.-F.L. and P.W. presented the physical interpretation of the data and wrote the manuscript. All authors reviewed and contributed to the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Wei-Min Gu, Mouyuan Sun or Jifeng Liu.

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Supplementary Tables 1–4 and Figs. 1–10.

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Yi, T., Gu, WM., Zhang, ZX. et al. A dynamically discovered and characterized non-accreting neutron star–M dwarf binary candidate. Nat Astron 6, 1203–1212 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-022-01766-0

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