A Radio Pulsar/X-ray Binary Link

Bibliographic Details
Title: A Radio Pulsar/X-ray Binary Link
Authors: Archibald, Anne M., Stairs, Ingrid H., Ransom, Scott M., Kaspi, Victoria M., Kondratiev, Vladislav I., Lorimer, Duncan R., McLaughlin, Maura A., Boyles, Jason, Hessels, Jason W. T., Lynch, Ryan, van Leeuwen, Joeri, Roberts, Mallory S. E., Jenet, Frederick, Champion, David J., Rosen, Rachel, Barlow, Brad N., Dunlap, Bart H., Remillard, Ronald A.
Publication Year: 2009
Collection: Astrophysics
Subject Terms: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
More Details: Radio pulsars with millisecond spin periods are thought to have been spun up by transfer of matter and angular momentum from a low-mass companion star during an X-ray-emitting phase. The spin periods of the neutron stars in several such low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) systems have been shown to be in the millisecond regime, but no radio pulsations have been detected. Here we report on detection and follow-up observations of a nearby radio millisecond pulsar (MSP) in a circular binary orbit with an optically identified companion star. Optical observations indicate that an accretion disk was present in this system within the last decade. Our optical data show no evidence that one exists today, suggesting that the radio MSP has turned on after a recent LMXB phase.
Comment: published in Science
Document Type: Working Paper
DOI: 10.1126/science.1172740
Access URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/0905.3397
Accession Number: edsarx.0905.3397
Database: arXiv
More Details
DOI:10.1126/science.1172740