Language
Country/Area
No result found
Alien objects smaller than the moon's mass: How to discover and understand mini planets on millisecond pulsars?
With the advancement of astronomy research, millisecond pulsar (MSP) has become an important object for astronomers to explore the mysteries of the universe.With a millisecond pulsar's rotation period less than 10 milliseconds, these unique objects rotate at extremely high speeds, providing us with a new window to gain insight into how the universe works.The discovery of these celestial bodies led us to realize that even some alien objects smaller than the moon's mass might be orbiting around these pulsars, which sparked a strong interest in the scientific community for mini-planets.
Millisecond pulsars are considered to be fast-rotating neutron stars in the elderly, and their rotation speed is one of the fastest celestial bodies in the universe.
The Origin and Evolution of Millisecond Pulsar
The formation of millisecond pulsars is closely related to low-mass X-ray binary system.When the outer material of the companion star is lost from the Roche flange area, an accretion disk is formed, and this process provides additional material for the neutron star, which speeds up its rotation.This rotation can reach hundreds of times per second, which is one of the characteristics of a millisecond pulsar.
Many millisecond pulsars are found in globular clusters, which is consistent with the rotation enhancement hypothesis it forms.
The high star density of these clusters increases the likelihood that pulsars interact with companions or the huge companions they capture.There are currently about 130 millisecond pulsars in the globular cluster, with Terzan 5 having 37 and 47 Tucanae having 22, following each.
Pulsar rotation speed limit
The first millisecond pulsar, PSR B1937+21, was discovered in 1982, with a rotation speed of about 641 revolutions per second.According to the current model, if the rotation speed of a neutron star reaches about 1500 revolutions per second, it will crash.The fastest-rotating pulsar currently known, J1748-2446ad, was discovered in 2004 with a rotation speed of 716 revolutions per second.
The stability of millisecond pulsars is comparable to that of atomic clocks, which makes them very sensitive to environmental changes.
Use pulsars to detect gravitational waves
Graining waves are an important prediction of Einstein's general theory of relativity, and their sources are mainly the movement of mass and the fluctuations of the early universe.The rotational properties of pulsars make it an extremely accurate timer and have important potential for discovering gravitational waves.The pulsar signal can be used to detect passing gravitational waves, an argument that Sazhin and Detweiler first proposed in the 1970s.
In the process, international cooperation groups such as NANOGrav have continuously launched new data releases. An important achievement in recent years is the 15-year data released in 2023, providing strong evidence for the gravitational wave background for the first time, which marks the Another important milestone in astronomy.
Millisecond pulsar not only allows us to understand the properties of rapidly rotating objects, but may also help us uncover the mysteries of gravitational waves.
As our understanding of the universe continues to deepen, what do these alien objects smaller than the moon’s mass suggest?
