OBSERVING PSR J2032+4127, A BE GAMMA-RAY BINARY AT PERIASTRON

PSR J2032+4127 IS A FERMI AND RADIO PULSAR IN THE CYG OB2 ASSOCIATION POWERING A TEV PULSAR WIND NEBULA. IT IS IN A HIGHLY ECCENTRIC 48 YEAR ORBIT AROUND A BE STAR. WE PROPOSE FOR TIME-CRITICAL SPECTROSCOPIC MONITORING AT PERIASTRON TO LOOK FOR THE EXPECTED INTERACTION OF THE PULSAR WITH THE WIND AND/OR DISK OF THE BE STAR. XMM-NEWTON IS ALSO ABLE TO TEST FOR PULSATIONS AT THE 143 MS SPIN PERIOD THAT WOULD BE THE SIGNATURE OF ACCRETION ONTO THE NEUTRON STAR. THESE OBSERVATIONS ARE IMPORTANT FOR COMPARISON WITH PSR B1259-63 THE PROTOTYPE AND ONLY OTHER BE/GAMMA-RAY BINARY WITH A KNOWN PULSAR AS WELL AS TO HELP UNDERSTAND GAMMA-RAY BINARIES THAT HAVE COMPACT OBJECTS OF UNCERTAIN TYPE THAT MAY BE NEUTRON STARS EVEN THOUGH THEIR PULSATIONS HAVE NOT BEEN DETECTED.