Free Energy of Anisotropic Strangeon Stars

Can pulsar-like compact objects release further huge free energy besides the kinematic energy of rotation?This is actually relevant to the equation of state of cold supra-nuclear matter,which is still under hot debate.Enormous energy is surely needed to understand various observations,such asγ-ray bursts,fast radio bursts and softγ-ray repeaters.In this paper,the elastic/gravitational free energy of solid strangeon stars is revisited for strangeon stars,with two anisotropic models to calculate in general relativity.It is found that huge free energy(>10^(46)erg)could be released via starquakes,given an extremely small anisotropy((p_(t)-p_(r))/p_(r)~10^(-4),with pt/pr the tangential/radial pressure),implying that pulsar-like stars could have great potential of free energy release without extremely strong magnetic fields in the solid strangeon star model.

Probing the Internal Physics of Neutron Stars through the Observed Braking Indices and Magnetic Tilt Angles of Several Young Pulsars

The braking indices of pulsars may contain important information about the internal physics of neutron stars(NSs),such as neutron superfluidity and internal magnetic fields.As a subsequent paper of Cheng et al.,we perform the same analysis as that done in the previous paper to other young pulsars with a steady braking index,n.Combining the timing data of these pulsars with the theory of magnetic field decay,and using their measured magnetic tilt angles,we can set constraints on the number of precession cycles,ξ,which represents the interactions between superfluid neutrons and other particles in the NS interior.For the pulsars considered in this paper,the results show thatξis within the range of a few×10~3 to a few×10~6.Interestingly,for the Crab and Vela pulsars,the constraints onξobtained with our method are generally consistent with that derived from modeling of the glitch rise behaviors of the two pulsars.Furthermore,we find that the internal magnetic fields of pulsar with n<3 may be dominated by the toroidal components.Our results may not only help to understand the interactions between the superfluid neutrons and other particles in the interior of NSs but also be important for the study of continuous gravitational waves from pulsars.

Characteristics of Emission Non-nulling Pulsars Through Simulation

We investigate the population and several properties of radio pulsars whose emission does not null(non-nulling)through simulation of a large pulsar sample.Emission from a pulsar is identified as non-nulling if(i)the emission does not cease across the whole pulse profile,and(ii)the emission is detectable.For(i),we adopt a model for switching in the plasma charge density,and emission persists if the charge density is non-zero.For(ii),we assume that detectable emission originates from source points where it is emitted tangentially to the magnetic field-line and parallel to the line-of-sight.We find that pulsars exhibiting non-nulling emission possess obliquity angles with an average of 42°.5,and almost half the samples maintain a duty cycle between 0.05 and 0.2.Furthermore,the pulsar population is not fixed but dependent on the obliquity angle,with the population peaking at 20°.In addition,three evolutionary phases are identified in the pulsar population as the obliquity angle evolves,with the majority of samples having an obliquity angle between 20°and 65°.Our results also suggest that emission from a pulsar may evolve between nulling and non-nulling during its lifetime.

Rotating Massive Strangeon Stars and X-Ray Plateau of Short GRBs

Strangeon stars,which are proposed to describe the nature of pulsar-like compact stars,have passed various observational tests.The maximum mass of a non-rotating strangeon star could be high,which implies that the remnants of binary strangeon star mergers could even be long-lived massive strangeon stars.We study rigidly rotating strangeon stars in the slowly rotating approximation,using the Lennard-Jones model for the equation of state.Rotation can significantly increase the maximum mass of strangeon stars with unchanged baryon numbers,enlarging the mass-range of long-lived strangeon stars.During spin-down after merger,the decrease of radius of the remnant will lead to the release of gravitational energy.Taking into account the efficiency of converting the gravitational energy luminosity to the observed X-ray luminosity,we find that the gravitational energy could provide an alternative energy source for the plateau emission of X-ray afterglow.The fitting results of X-ray plateau emission of some short gamma-ray bursts suggest that the magnetic dipole field strength of the remnants can be much smaller than that of expected when the plateau emission is powered only by spin-down luminosity of magnetars.

Variable Stars in the 50BiN Open Cluster Survey.Ⅲ.NGC 884

Open clusters are the basic building blocks that serve as a laboratory for the study of young stellar populations in the Milky Way.Variable stars in open clusters provide a unique way to accurately probe the internal structure,temporal and dynamical evolutionary stages of individual stars and the host cluster.The most powerful tool for such studies is time-domain photometric observations.This paper follows the route of our previous work,concentrating on a photometric search for variable stars in NGC 884.The target cluster is the companion of NGC869,forming the well-known double cluster system that is gravitationally bound.From the observation run in 2016 November,a total of 9247 B-band CCD images and 8218Ⅴ-band CCD images were obtained.We detected a total of 15 stars with variability in visual brightness,including five Be stars,three eclipsing binaries,and seven of unknown types.Two new variable stars were discovered in this work.We also compared the variable star content of NGC 884 with its companion NGC 869.

A Fermi-LAT Study of Globular Cluster Dynamical Evolution in the Milky Way:Millisecond Pulsars as the Probe

Using archival Fermi-LAT data with a time span of~12 yr,we study the population of Millisecond Pulsars(MSPs)in Globular Clusters(GlCs)and investigate their dependence on cluster dynamical evolution in the Milky Way.We show that theγ-ray luminosity(L_(γ))and emissivity(i.e.,ε_(γ)=L_(γ)/M,with M the cluster mass)are good indicators of the population and abundance of MSPs in GlCs,and they are highly dependent on the dynamical evolution history of the host clusters.Specifically speaking,the dynamically older GlCs with more compact structures are more likely to have larger L_(γ)andε_(γ),and these trends can be summarized as strong correlations with cluster stellar encounter rateΓand the specific encounter rate(Λ=Γ/M),with L_(γ)∝Γ^(0.7±0.11)andε_(γ)∝Λ^(0.73±0.13)for dynamically normal GlCs.However,as GlCs evolve into deep core collapse,these trends are found to be reversed,implying that strong encounters may have lead to the disruption of Low-Mass X-ray Binaries and ejection of MSPs from core-collapsed systems.Besides,the GlCs are found to exhibit largerε_(γ)with increasing stellar mass function slope(ε_(γ)∝10^((0.52±0.1)α)),decreasing tidal radius(ε_(γ)∝R_(t)^(-10±0.22))and distances from the Galactic Center(GC,ε_(γ)∝R_(gc)^(-1.13±0.21)).These correlations indicate that,as GlCs losing kinetic energy and spiral in toward the GC,tidal stripping and mass segregation have a preference in leading to the loss of normal stars from GlCs,while MSPs are more likely to concentrate to cluster center and be deposited into the GC.Moreover,we gaugeε_(γ)of GlCs is~10-1000 times larger than the Galactic bulge,the latter is thought to reside thousands of unresolved MSPs and may be responsible for the GC 7-ray excess,which supports that GlCs are generous contributors to the population of MSPs in the GC.

Glitching Pulsars: Unraveling the Interactions of General Relativistic and Quantum Fields in the Strong Field Regimes

In this article we modify our previous model for the mechanisms underlying the glitch phenomena in pulsars. Accordingly, pulsars are born with embryonic cores that are made of purely incompressible superconducting gluon-quark superfluid (henceforth SuSu-cores). As the ambient medium cools and spins down due to emission of magnetic dipole radiation, the mass and size of SuSu-cores must grow discretely with time, in accordance with the Onsager-Feynmann analysis of superfluidity. Here we argue that the spacetime embedding glitching pulsars is dynamical and of bimetric nature: inside SuSu-cores the spacetime must be flat, whereas the surrounding region, where the matter is compressible and dissipative, the spacetime is Schwarzschild. It is argued here that the topological change of spacetime is derived by the strong nuclear force, whose operating length scales are found to increase with time to reach O (1) cm at the end of the luminous lifetimes of pulsars. The here-presented model is in line with the recent radio- and gravitational wave observations of pulsars and merger of neutron stars.

FAST Pulsar Database.I.Polarization Profiles of 682 Pulsars

Pulsar polarization profiles form a very basic database for understanding the emission processes in a pulsar magnetosphere.After careful polarization calibration of the 19-beam L-band receiver and verification of beamoffset observation results,we obtain polarization profiles of 682 pulsars from observations by the Five-hundredmeter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope(FAST)duringthe Galactic Plane Pulsar Snapshot survey and other normal FAST projects.Among them,polarization profiles of about 460 pulsars are observed for the first time.The profiles exhibit diverse features.Some pulsars have a polarization position angle curve with a good S-shaped swing,some with orthogonal modes;some have components with highly linearly polarized components or strong circularly polarized components;some have a very wide profile,coming from an aligned rotator,and some have an interpulse from a perpendicular rotator;some wide profiles are caused by interstellar scattering.We derive geometric parameters for 190 pulsars from the S-shaped position angle curves or with orthogonal modes.We find that the linear and circular polarization or the widths of pulse profiles have various frequency dependencies.Pulsars with a large fraction of linear polarization are more likely to have a large Edot.

The Fifth Edition of the General Catalogue of Variable Stars:experiences in the constellation Centaurus

We have recently announced that the General Catalogue of Variable Stars enters the stage of its fifth, purely electronic edition （GCVS 5.1）. We have included 1408 variable stars in the constellation Centaurus in this new version, GCVS 5.1. Working on this revision, we applied current possibilities from data mining, suggested new variability types for many variable stars and found new light elements for a large number of periodic variables. This paper describes the work completed during the preparation of GCVS 5.1 for Centaurus and discusses in detail a number of the most astrophysically significant cases.

The Origin of Glitches in Pulsars—Phase Oscillation between Anisotropic Superfluid and Normal State of Neutrons in Neutron Stars

Considering neutron star heating by magnetic dipole radiation from ^3PF2 superfluid neutron vortices inside the star, we propose a neutron phase oscillation model between the normal neutron Fermi fluid and the ^3PF2 superfluid neutron vortices at the transition temperature of Ttrans = （2 - 3）× 10^8 K. With this model we can qualitatively explain most of the observations on pulsar glitches up to date.

Single-pulse Emission Variation of Two Pulsars Discovered by FAST

We investigate the single-pulse emission variations of two pulsars,PSRs J0211+4235 and J0553+4111,observed with the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope at the 1.25 GHz central frequency.The observation sessions span from 2020 December to 2021 July,with 21 and 22 observations for them respectively.The integrated pulse profile of PSR J0211+4235 shows that there is a weak pulse component following the main component,and PSR J0553+4111 displays a bimodal profile with a bridge component in the middle.PSR J0211+4235 presents significant nulling phenomenon with nulling duration lasting from 2 to 115 pulses and burst duration lasting from 2 to 113 pulses.The NF of each observation is determined to be 45%-55%.No emission greater than threeσis found in the mean integrated profile of all nulling pulses.In most cases,the pulse energy changes abruptly during the transition from null to burst,while in the transition from burst to null there are two trends:abrupt and gradual.We find that the nulling phenomenon of PSR J0211+4235 is periodic by the Fourier transform of the null and burst state.In addition,the single-pulse modulation characteristics of these two pulsars are investigated,and the distributions of modulation index,LRFS and 2DFS are analyzed with PSRSALSA.The left peak of PSR J0553+4111 has intensity modulation.Finally,the polarization properties of these two pulsars are obtained through polarization calibration,and their characteristics are analyzed.The possible physical mechanisms of these phenomena are discussed.

General Relativistic Orbital Effects in Compact Binary Stars (Solution by the Method of Celestial Mechanics)

Perturbation methods are employed to calculate time variation in the orbital elements of a compact binary system. It turns out that the semi-major axis and eccentricity exhibit only periodic variations. The longitude of periastron and mean longitude of epoch exhibit both secular and periodic variation. In addition, the relativistic effects on the time of periastron passage of binary stars are also given. Four compact binary systems (PSRJ0737-3039, PSR1913+16, PSR1543+12 and M33X-7) are considered. Numerical results for both secular and periodic effects are presented, and the possibility of observing them is discussed.

Black Holes or Dark Stars—What Follows from the General Relativity Theory

The paper is concerned with spherically symmetric static problem of the Classical Gravitation Theory (CGT) and the General Relativity Theory (GRT). First, the Dark Stars, i.e. the objects that are invisible because of high gravitation preventing the propagation of light discovered in the 18th century by J. Michel and P. Laplace are discussed. Second, the Schwarzchild solution which was obtained in the beginning of the 20th century for the internal and external spaces of the perfect fluid sphere is analyzed. This solution results in singular metric coefficients and provides the basis of the Black Holes. Third, the general metric form in spherical coordinates is introduced and the solution of GRT problem is obtained under the assumption that gravitation does not affect the sphere mass. The critical sphere radius similar to the Black Hole horizon of events is found. In contrast to the Schwarzchild solution, the radial metric coefficient for the sphere with the critical radius referred to as the Dark Star is not singular. For the sphere with radius which is less than the critical value, the GRT solution becomes imaginary. The problem is discussed within the framework of the phenomenological theory which does not take into account the actual microstructure of the gravitating objects and, though the term “star” is used, the analysis is concerned with a model fluid sphere rather than with a real astrophysical object.

Quantum Stabilization of General-Relativistic Variable-Density Degenerate Stars

Research by one of the authors suggested that the critical mass of constant-density neutron stars will be greater than eight solar masses when the majority of their neutrons group into bosons that form a Bose-Einstein condensate, provided the bosons interact with each other and have scattering lengths on the order of a picometer. That analysis was able to use Newtonian theory for the condensate with scattering lengths on this order, but general relativity provides a more fundamental analysis. In this paper, we determine the equilibrium states of a static, spherically-symmetric variable-density mixture of a degenerate gas of noninteracting neutrons and a Bose-Einstein condensate using general relativity. We use a Klein-Gordan Lagrangian density with a Gross-Pitaevskii term for the condensate and an effective field for the neutrons. We show that a new class of compact stars can exist with masses above the Oppenheimer-Volkoff limit, provided the scattering length of the bosons is large enough. These stars have no internal singularities, obey causality, and demonstrate a quantum mechanism consistent with general relativity that could prevent collapsed stars from becoming black holes.

An Update of the Catalog of Radial Velocity Standard Stars from the APOGEE DR17

We present an updated catalog of 46,753 radial velocity(RV)standard stars selected from the APOGEE DR17.These stars cover the Northern and Southern Hemispheres almost evenly,with 62%being red giants and 38%being main sequence stars.These RV standard stars are stable on a baseline longer than 200 days(with 54%longer than one year and 10%longer than five years)with a median stability better than 215 m s~(-1).The average number of observations of those stars is 5 and each observation is required to have signal-to-noise ratio greater than50 and RV measurement error smaller than 500 m s~(-1).Based on the new APOGEE RV standard star catalog,we have checked the RV zero-points(RVZPs)for current large-scale stellar spectroscopic surveys including RAVE,LAMOST,GALAH and Gaia.By careful analysis,we estimate their mean RVZP to be+0.149 kms~(-1),+4.574 km s~(-1)(for LRS),-0.031 km s~(-1)and+0.014 kms~(-1),respectively,for the four surveys.In the RAVE,LAMOST(for MRS),GALAH and Gaia surveys,RVZP exhibits a systematic trend with stellar parameters(mainly[Fe/H],T_(eff),log g,G_(BP)-G_(RP)and G_(RVS)).The corrections to those small but clear RVZPs are of vital importance for these massive spectroscopic surveys in various studies that require extremely high RV accuracies.

Searching for Pulsars with Phase Characteristics

We present a method by using the phase characteristics of radio observation data for pulsar search and candidate identification.The phase characteristics are relations between the pulsar signal and the phase correction in the frequency-domain,and we regard it as a new search diagnostic characteristic.Based on the phase characteristics,a search method is presented:calculating dispersion measure(DM)—frequency data to select candidate frequencies,and then confirming of candidates by using the broadband characteristics of pulsar signals.Based on this method,we performed a search test on short observation data of M15 and M71,which were observed by Five-hundredmeter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope,and some of the Galactic Plane Pulsar Snapshot survey data.Results show that it can get similar search results to PRESTO(Pulsa R Exploration and Search TOolkit)while having a faster processing speed.

The Analyses of Globular Cluster Pulsars and Their Detection Efficiency

Up to 2022 November,267 pulsars had been discovered in 36 globular clusters(GCs).In this paper,we present our studies on the distribution of GC pulsar parameters and the detection efficiency.The power law relation between average dispersion measure(■)and dispersion measure difference(ΔDM)of known pulsars in GCs is lgΔDM∝1.52lg■.The sensitivity could be the key to finding more pulsars.As a result,several years after the construction of a large radio telescope facility,the number of known GC pulsars will likely be increased accordingly.We suggest that currently GCs in the southern hemisphere could have higher possibilities for finding new pulsars.

Determination of Distance,Extinction,Mass,and Age for Stars in LAMOST DR7

Large scale spectroscopic surveys such as that using Large-sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope(LAMOST) have collected spectra of millions stars in the Milky Way.Utilizing this huge sample of stars to study the assembling history and structure of our Galaxy requires accurate estimates of distance,extinction,age,and mass for individual stars.Combining the parallax constraint from Gaia EDR3 with Bayesian inference,we have estimated the distance and extinction for stars observed in LAMOST DR7,as well as the stellar mass and age for evolved stars in this data release.We validated the accuracies of the stellar parameters by comparing our results against various measurements,including the star-pair technique,asteroseismology,globular clusters,and isochrone fits to main sequence stars and subgiants.This is a valuable catalog of stellar parameters under a Bayesian framework estimated using the data from Gaia EDR3 and LAMOST spectroscopic data.With this data set we explored the stellar population of the Galactic massive substructure Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus(GSE).The kinematically selected members of GSE have a median metallicity of [Fe/H] =-1.29 and a median age of 11.6 Gyr.

Constraining the Orbital Inclination and Companion Properties of Three Black Widow Pulsars Detected by FAST

Black widows(BWs)are millisecond pulsars ablating their companion stars.The out-flowing material from the companion can block the radio emission of the pulsar,resulting in eclipses.In this paper,we construct a model for the radio eclipse by calculating the geometry of the bow shock between the winds of the pulsar and companion,where the shock shapes the eclipsing medium but had not been described in detail in previous works.The model is further used to explain the variations of the flux density and dispersion measure of three BW pulsars(i.e.,PSR B1957+20,J2055+3829,and J2051-0827)detected by the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope.Consequently,we constrained the parameters of the three BW systems such as the inclination angles and true anomalies of the observer as well as the mass-loss rates and wind velocity of the companion stars.With the help of these constraints,it is expected that magnetic fields of companion stars and even masses of pulsars could further be determined as some extra observation can be achieved in the future.

The EOSs and the Blatant Discrepancy in Modelling Massive Neutron Stars: Origin and a Possible Solution Method

Exploring the state of ultra-cold supranuclear dense matter that makes up the cores of massive neutron stars is one of the greatest unresolved problems in modern physics. In this letter, we show that when the interiors of pulsars are made of compressible and dissipative normal matter, the commonly used solution procedures combined with the known EOSs yield widely scattered solutions and poorly determined radii. A remarkable agreement emerges, however, if pulsars harbour cores that are made of incompressible entropy-free superfluids (SuSu-matter) embedded in flat spacetimes. Such supranuclear dense matter should condensate to form false vacua as predicated by non-perterbative QCD vacuum. The solutions here are found to be physically consistent and mathematically elegant, irrespective of the object’s mass. Based thereon, we conclude that the true masses of massive NSs may differ significantly from those revealed by direct observation.