Formation of the Galactic Millisecond Pulsar Triple System PSR J0337+1715 - a Neutron Star with Two Orbiting White Dwarfs

摘要

The millisecond pulsar in a triple system (PSR J0337+1715, recentlydiscovered by Ransom et al.) is an unusual neutron star with two orbiting whitedwarfs. The existence of such a system in the Galactic field poses newchallenges to stellar astrophysics for understanding evolution, interactionsand mass-transfer in close multiple stellar systems. In addition, this systemprovides the first precise confirmation for a very wide-orbit system of thewhite dwarf mass-orbital period relation. Here we present a self-consistent,semi-analytical solution to the formation of PSR J0337+1715. Our modelconstrains the peculiar velocity of the system to be less than 160 km/s andbrings novel insight to, for example, common envelope evolution in a triplesystem, for which we find evidence for in-spiral of both outer stars. Finally,we briefly discuss our scenario in relation to alternative models.