HIGH POINT, N.C., May 6, 2015 – High Point University students and a faculty member who traveled to Chile last summer to observe stars with the SMARTS telescope are seeing the fruits of their research. Their work, which has helped with the discovery of a rare pulsar system, was recently published in a renowned astrophysics journal.
HPU students Eugene Filik and Aaron Marlowe, along with alumnus Tyler Hockett and Dr. Brad Barlow, assistant professor of astrophysics, collaborated with researchers from West Virginia University to observe a potential binary pulsar system last summer while visiting the Cerro Tololo International Observatory, one of the most well-known observing sites for professional astronomers in the world. Pulsars are a type of neutron star, which rotate up to 1,000 times per second and are so dense that a teaspoon of their material would weigh as much as Mount Everest.
While in Chile, the HPU team used the telescope to look for the type of object the pulsar was orbiting, but could not see a companion.
“While seeing nothing might sound like a failure, in this case, it was the most exciting result we could have hoped for,” Barlow explains. “Our deep image of the pulsar tells us that the companion is incredibly faint – too faint to be a normal Sun-like star. Our data reveals that the companion is another neutron star. This type of system, a ‘double neutron star’ binary, is incredibly rare. To date, only 12 have been found.”
The paper resulting from their collaborative research, titled “PSR J1930-1852: A Pulsar in the Widest Known Orbit around Another Neutron Star,” is included in the most recent edition of the Astrophysical Journal. It is the first peer-reviewed publication credit for students Filik and Marlowe.
“When I initially invited the students with me to Chile, I never imagined our work would so quickly lead to a publication,” says Barlow. “It’s not often undergraduates in physics get to make such a discovery or are co-authors on a peer-reviewed astrophysics paper. It lends credit to HPU’s commitment to undergraduate research. Our students should be very proud of themselves.”