PSR J1748-2446ad

PSR J1748 - 2446ad is currently (as of August 2006) the fastest rotating millisecond pulsar known. His meticulous determined rotation frequency is 716.35556 Hz (standard deviation 0.00003 ), corresponding to a rotation period of less than 1.4 milliseconds. He releases the 1982 PSR B1937 21 found record holder with 642 Hertz from (1.6 milliseconds rotation time ).

The Pulsar ( McGill University) discovered on 10 November 2004 by Jason WT Hessels the 100-meter radio telescope in Green Bank in the globular cluster Terzan 5, and confirmed on 8 January 2005. Its radius must be less than 16 km, its rotation speed at the equator reaches about 24 percent of the speed of light. A lower limit on the period of rotation is the centrifugal force needs to be smaller than the gravity at the surface. For a neutron star 20 kilometers in diameter, the lower limit of the period of rotation is in the range of 1 millisecond per revolution.

PSR J1748 - 2446ad is a main sequence star of probably 0.14 solar masses, of which the pulsar subtracting mass, a double star system containing 5 in the constellation is Sagittarius located in the globular cluster Terzan and thus an estimated 19,000 light-years away from Earth. The pulsar and the main sequence star orbit each other every 26 hours on a nearly circular orbit, the pulsar is but about 40 percent of its web is not visible because it is hidden by the gas veil of his companion.

The rotation period of the pulsar will slow down with less than 3:10 -13 Hz / second. This could be explained by the emission of electromagnetic waves. A possible indication of emission of gravitational waves could not be found.

Swell

• J. Hessels et al.: In: Science. Vol 311, No. 5769, 1901, pp. 1901-1904, DOI: 10.1126/science.1123430
• A. Bausenwein. Twist record in space. In: Stars and space. 7/2006, Spectrum -Verlag, ISSN 0039-1263
• Article of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory

• Pulsar