Congratulations to Prof. Brad Barlow who was recently awarded a 2024-2025 Faculty Research Grant from the NC Space Grant! This funding will support Barlow and several undergraduate students as they use optical photometry from space- and ground-based observatories to search for and characterize new spider binaries.
From the NC Space Grant announcement:
“Spider binaries are a class of compact binaries that typically consist of a pulsar (a highly magnetized, rotating neutron star) and a low-mass companion. The intense, high-energy radiation and wind from the neutron star slowly heats up and ablates material from the companion. In time, the orbital period will shorten, and the companion will be consumed. Studies of spider binaries can provide valuable insights into various astrophysical processes, including mass transfer and evolution, the properties and behavior of neutron stars, and high–energy electromagnetic emissions. Such systems are rare, and most have been discovered through X-ray/gamma-ray detections or radio observations of their millisecond pulsars. Due to a series of serendipitous events, Barlow’s research group has discovered one of the closest (and thus brightest) spider binaries currently known using optical photometry instead of radio or high-energy observations. This discovery was made while investigating high signal-to-noise light curves of hot subdwarf binaries — an unrelated type of binary. As the highly irradiated hot spot on the companion rotates in and out of view, the optical flux can vary by up to a factor of ~10 with a light curve shape that mimics those of hot subdwarf reflection effect binaries. Here Barlow’s team proposes a series of optical search strategies to uncover and study new spider binaries using data from NASA’s TESS spacecraft, the 4.1-m SOAR telescope, and Skynet.
Barlow’s hope is that student participation in this project will foster enthusiasm, collaboration, and a deeper understanding of the subject matter in student researchers. Students will learn how to search and review the astronomical literature on spider binaries and related objects; write basic Python scripts for data analysis and visualization; use TOPCAT to inspect and manipulate tabular data; download TESS photometry from the Barbara A. Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes; compute Lomb Scargle periodograms to search for periodic signals in time-series data; obtain, reduce, and analyze time-series photometry from the Skynet telescope network; obtain, reduce, and analyze time-series spectroscopy from SOAR/Goodman; write clear and concise reports summarizing research results and progress; and give engaging and effective scientific presentations to the public and scientific audiences.”