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The origin of planets orbiting millisecond pulsars

Nature volume 356, pages 320–322 (1992)Cite this article

Abstract

AT least two Earth-sized planets have been discovered around the 6-ms pulsar PSR1257 +12 (ref. 1), which, like millisecond pulsars in general, has probably been spun up by accretion of material from a companion star. In addition, two 'star-vaporizing' millisecond pulsars (SVPs), 1957 + 20 (ref. 2) and 1744–24A (refs 3, 4), show evidence of mass outflows from their low-mass companions, which are thought to be vaporized by pulsar radiation. Building on this, we suggest a model for the formation of planets around millisecond pulsars such as 1257 + 12, which no longer have stellar companions. We present detailed hydrodynamical models which suggest that planet formation can occur either in a low-mass X-ray binary progenitor to a progenitor of an SVP when the neutron star is accreting material driven off its companion by X-ray irradiation (refs 5, 6), or after a pulsar has formed and is vaporizing its companion5,7–9. In both cases a circum-binary disk is created in which planets can form on a timescale of 105–106 years10 (which is short compared with the binary evolution time-scales of the parent systems) and the planets can survive a second phase in which the companion star moves towards the pulsar and is completely vaporized5.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, LLNL, University of California, California, 94550, USA

    Marco Tavani & Leigh Brookshaw

  2. Department of Astronomy, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California, 94720, USA

    Marco Tavani

Authors
  1. Marco Tavani
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Tavani, M., Brookshaw, L. The origin of planets orbiting millisecond pulsars. Nature 356, 320–322 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1038/356320a0

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