The He star donor channel towards the black widow PSR J1953+1844

Abstract

ABSTRACT Black widows (BWs) are a type of eclipsing millisecond pulsars (MSPs) with low companion masses ($\lesssim 0.05\, \rm M_\odot$) and tight orbits (<1 d). PSR J1953+1844 (i.e. M71E) is a black window (BW) with the shortest orbital period (∼53 min) ever discovered, which was recently detected by Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope. Its companion mass is $\sim 0.01\, \rm M_\odot$ according to its mass function, indicating that the companion may be a hydrogen-deficient star. However, the origin of PSR J1953+1844 is highly unclear. In this paper, we explored the origin of PSR J1953+1844 through the neutron star+He star channel, in which the system can experience ultracompact X-ray binary phase. We found that the He star donor channel can reproduce the characteristics of PSR J1953+1844, indicating that this work provides an alternative formation channel for this source. Meanwhile, the minimum orbital period of BWs formed by this channel is ∼28 min, corresponding to the companion mass of $0.058\, \rm M_\odot$. In addition, we note that even though PSR J1953+1844 has a short orbital period, it cannot be detected by the gravitational wave (GW) observatories like Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, TaiJi, and TianQin. However, we still expect that the BWs with extremely tight orbit produced by this channel are the potential sources of future space-based GW observatories. Moreover, our simulations show that PSR J1953+1844 may eventually evolve into an isolated MSP.