Improving Binary Millisecond Pulsar Distances with Gaia. (arXiv:1812.06262v1 [astro-ph.IM])

Improving Binary Millisecond Pulsar Distances with Gaia. (arXiv:1812.06262v1 [astro-ph.IM])
<a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Mingarelli_C/0/1/0/all/0/1">Chiara M. F. Mingarelli</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Anderson_L/0/1/0/all/0/1">Lauren Anderson</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Bedell_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">Megan Bedell</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Spergel_D/0/1/0/all/0/1">David N. Spergel</a>

Improved distance measurements to millisecond pulsars can enhance pulsar
timing array (PTA) sensitivity to gravitational waves, improve tests of general
relativity with binary pulsars, improve constraints on fuzzy dark matter, and
more. Here we report the parallax distance measurements to six Gaia DR2 objects
associated with International PTA pulsars J0437-4715, J1012+5307, J1024-0719,
J1732-5049, J1910+1256, and J1843-1113. By multiplying the posteriors of the
PTA distances with the gaia distance to the companion, we improve the distance
measurements, and provide a tentative detection of a previously unknown binary
companion to J1843-1113. Finally, we recommend that future Gaia data releases
use J0437-4715 as a calibration point, since its distance estimate in Gaia DR2
is relatively poor compared to pulsar timing measurements.

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