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Updated: Dec 29, 2025
06:42
Magnetically Induced Rotating Rayleigh-Taylor Instability
Published on: March 3, 2017
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Lense-Thirring frame dragging induced by a fast-rotating white dwarf in a binary pulsar system.
V Venkatraman Krishnan1,2, M Bailes3,4, W van Straten5
1Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Victoria 3122, Australia. vkrishnan@mpifr-bonn.mpg.de.
Science (New York, N.Y.)
|February 1, 2020
Summary
We detected orbital inclination changes in a binary pulsar system, likely caused by relativistic effects from a rapidly spinning white dwarf. This finding supports theories of binary evolution and general relativity predictions.
Area of Science:
- * Astrophysics
- * General Relativity
- * Binary Star Evolution
Background:
- * Radio pulsars in eccentric binary orbits offer insights into gravitational dynamics and stellar evolution.
- * The PSR J1141-6545 system features a young radio pulsar with a massive white dwarf (WD) companion formed prior to the pulsar.
Purpose of the Study:
- * To investigate the temporal evolution of the orbital inclination in the PSR J1141-6545 binary system.
- * To test predictions of general relativity, specifically Lense-Thirring (LT) precession, in a compact binary system.
Main Methods:
- * Observational astronomy to monitor the pulsar's orbital parameters over time.
- * Theoretical modeling to account for Newtonian and relativistic effects on the orbit.
Main Results:
- * Observed a temporal evolution in the orbital inclination of PSR J1141-6545.
- * Inferred that this evolution is driven by a combination of the white dwarf's Newtonian quadrupole moment and relativistic Lense-Thirring (LT) precession.
- * The observed LT precession is consistent with a rapidly rotating white dwarf.
Conclusions:
- * The detection of LT precession provides strong evidence for relativistic frame-dragging effects.
- * The findings support an evolutionary model where the white dwarf accreted matter from the pulsar progenitor, leading to its rapid spin (<200 seconds).
- * This study validates general relativity in the strong-field regime and advances understanding of binary star evolution.
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