2003ApJ...584L..13F

By means of high-resolution spectra, we have measured radial velocities of the companion (hereafter COM J1740-5340) to the eclipsing millisecond pulsar PSR J1740-5340 in the galactic globular cluster NGC 6397. The radial velocity curve fully confirms that COM J1740-5340 is orbiting the pulsar, and this enables us to derive the most accurate mass ratio (M_PSR/M_COM=5.85±0.13) for any nonrelativistic binary system containing a neutron star. Assuming a pulsar mass in the range 1.3-1.9 M_☉, the mass of COM J1740-5340 spans the interval 0.22-0.32 M_☉, the inclination of the system is constrained within 56°≳i≳47°, and the Roche lobe radius is r_RL∼1.5-1.7 R_☉. A preliminary chemical abundance analysis confirms that COM J1740-5340 has a metallicity compatible with that measured for other stars in this metal-poor globular, but the unexpected detection of strong He I absorption lines implies the existence of regions at T>10,000 K, which are significantly warmer than the rest of the star. The intensity of this line correlates with the orbital phase, suggesting the presence of a region on the companion surface, heated by the millisecond pulsar flux.