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SUMMARY:Love Bites: The Deadly Romance of Spider Pulsars - Prof. Rene Bret
 on (University of Manchester)
DTSTART:20250617T101500Z
DTEND:20250617T110000Z
UID:TALK229471@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Charles Walker
DESCRIPTION:Pulsars in binary systems are fantastic physics laboratories\,
  primarily because their orbital dynamics allow us to probe binary evoluti
 on\, test gravity theories\, measure neutron star masses\, etc. Among them
  are the "black widows" and "redbacks"\, which are nicknamed after the dea
 dly arachnids because the millisecond pulsar they contain gradually destro
 ys their low mass companion. The strongly irradiated dayside displayed by 
 the low-mass companions in these systems is reminiscent of what is observe
 d in exoplanets called "hot jupiters". In the last decade\, the number of 
 known spiders has grown exponentially to the point of becoming the most pr
 evalent type of fast rotating binary pulsars. In this talk\, I will presen
 t some of the recent efforts undertaken with the MeerKAT telescope to unco
 ver these pulsars and review some of the key advances they have provided f
 or our understanding of binary evolution\, stellar physics under extreme i
 rradiation\, and measurement of neutron star masses.
LOCATION:Martin Ryle Seminar Room\, Kavli Institute
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