Recycled pulsars with black hole companions: the high-mass analogues of PSR B2303+46

We investigate the possibility that mass transfer early in the evolution of a massive binary can effect a reversal of the end states of the two components, resulting in a neutron star that forms before a black hole. In this sense, such systems would comprise the high-mass analogues of white dwarf-neutron star systems such as PSR B2303+46. One consequence of this reversal is that a second episode of mass transfer from the black hole progenitor star can recycle the nascent neutron star, extending the life of the pulsar.