Harmonic Coupling of the Red Noise in X‐Ray Pulsars

The power spectra of X-ray pulsars often show the presence of a red-noise component. This noise is produced by aperiodic variability believed to be associated with instabilities that seem to occur in accretion flows onto compact objects. In this paper we discuss how, independently of the details of the physical processes that generate these instabilities, a careful analysis of the power spectra can furnish some constraints on the distance from the stellar surface at which the sudden energy release associated with the instabilities occurs. In particular, any aperiodic variability coming from the accretion flow funneled toward the magnetic poles should be modulated at the pulsar spin period (…