Abstract:  The `spider' pulsars (Black Widows and their ilk) are millisecond pulsars evaporating their companions in short period (P<1d) binaries. The Fermi gamma-ray space telescope has allowed us to discover dozens of these systems, and multiwavelength studies of their spectra and variability are probing a range of extreme physics. I review our studies of the pulsar death ray driving the companion evaporation, of the relativistic shocks in the binary winds, of the heat flow and winds on the planetary-mass companions and, most fundamentally, of the accretion-enhanced mass of the neutron star itself. The pulsar mass results are already pushing the limits of the dense matter equation of state. With more black widow measurements to come, this can have important implications for element production in kilonovae and the gravitational wave signals in compact binary mergers.

Host:  George Pavlov

Astro Colloquium and 'coffee & cookies' Department gathering (3:30-4:00pm)
https://psu.zoom.us/j/94153970341