Orbital variability in the eclipsing pulsar binary PSR B1957+20

Abstract

We have conducted timing observations of the eclipsing millisecond binary pulsar PSR~B1957+20, extending the span of data on this pulsar to more than five years. During this time the orbital period of the system has varied by roughly $Delta P_b/P_b = 1.6 imes 10^{-7}$, changing quadratically with time and displaying an orbital period second derivative $ddot P_b = (1.43 pm 0.08) imes 10^{-18},$s$^{-1}$. The previous measurement of a large negative orbital period derivative reflected only the short-term behavior of the system during the early observations; the orbital period derivative is now positive and increasing rapidly. If, as we suspect, the PSR~B1957+20 system is undergoing quasi-cyclic orbital period variations similar to those found in other close binaries such as Algol and RS CVn, then the $0.025,M{_odot}$ companion to PSR~B1957+20 is most likely non-degenerate, convective, and magnetically active.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, LaTeX, submitted ApJL 13 Dec. 1993, arz-00