Prospects of Constraining the Dense Matter Equation of State from Timing Analysis of Pulsars in Double Neutron Star Binaries: The Cases of PSR J0737 ‒ 3039A and PSR J1757 ‒ 1854

The Lense-Thirring effect from spinning neutron stars in double neutron star binaries contributes to the periastron advance of the orbit. This extra term involves the moment of inertia of the neutron stars. The moment of inertia, on the other hand, depends on the mass and spin of the neutron star, as well as the equation of state of the matter. If at least one member of the double neutron star binary (better the faster one) is a radio pulsar, then accurate timing analysis might lead to the estimation of the contribution of the Lense-Thirring effect to the periastron advance, which will lead to the measurement of the moment of inertia of the pulsar. The combination of the knowledge on the values of the moment of inertia, the mass and the spin of the pulsar will give a new constraint on the equation of state. Pulsars in double neutron star binaries are the best for this purpose as short orbits and moderately high eccentricities make the Lense-Thirring effect substantial, whereas tidal effects are negligible (unlike pulsars with main sequence or white-dwarf binaries). The most promising pulsars are PSR J0737 − 3039A and PSR J1757 − 1854. The spin-precession of pulsars due to the misalignment between the spin and the orbital angular momentum vectors affect the contribution of the Lense-Thirring effect to the periastron advance. This effect has been explored for both PSR J0737 − 3039A and PSR J1757 − 1854, and as the misalignment angles for both of these pulsars are small, the variation in the Lense-Thirring term is not much. However, to extract the Lense-Thirring effect from the observed rate of the periastron advance, more accurate timing solutions including precise proper motion and distance measurements are essential