Timing of the accreting millisecond pulsar IGR J17591-2342: evidence of spin-down during accretion

We report on the phase-coherent timing analysis of the accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar IGR J17591-2342, using Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) data taken during the outburst of the source between 2018 August 15 and 2018 October 17. We obtain an updated orbital solution of the binary system. We investigate the evolution of the neutron star spin frequency during the outburst, reporting a refined estimate of the spin frequency and the first estimate of the spin frequency derivative ($\dot{\nu} \sim -7\times 10^{-14}$ Hz s$^{-1}$), confirmed independently from the modelling of the fundamental frequency and its first harmonic. We further investigate the evolution of the X-ra…