Globular clusters: furnaces of exotic compact objects

Cristina Pallanca – University of Bologna

The dense stellar environments of globular clusters make them the main factories of compact objects. Among the several interesting classes of such systems, binary millisecond pulsars (MSPs) stand out as the most variegated. In fact, MSPs are rapidly spinning neutron stars formed in binary systems by mass accretion from an evolving companion star. However, the dynamic interactions within collisional environments can further perturb them, producing a wealth of exotic systems not predicted by standard evolutionary models. In this talk, I will first give a brief overview of the key dynamical properties of globular clusters, followed by a brief introduction to compact objects, with particular focus to MSPs. Finally, I will present the discovery of one of the « holy grails” of pulsar astronomy, which promises to unlock unprecedented opportunities for testing fundamental physics and general relativity.