Swings between rotation and accretion power in a binary millisecond pulsar

6533b86cfe1ef96bd12c8287

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Swings between rotation and accretion power in a binary millisecond pulsar

Luciano Burderi Enrico Bozzo Scott M. Ransom Ingrid H. Stairs John Sarkissian Jason W. T. Hessels Jason W. T. Hessels Maurizio Falanga Sergio Campana Lucia Pavan Paulo C. C. Freire Nanda Rea A. Possenti M. Burgay Diego F. Torres Diego F. Torres Alessandro Riggio M. H. Wieringa T. Di Salvo Alessandro Papitto Miroslav Filipovic Graeme F Wong Graeme F Wong Carlo Ferrigno Luigi Stella P. Romano

subject

NEUTRON-STARS Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena Binary number Astrophysics Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics Binary pulsar X-RAY TRANSIENTS RADIO PULSARS Settore FIS/05 - Astronomia E Astrofisica Pulsar Millisecond pulsar Astrophysics::Solar and Stellar Astrophysics SAX J1808.4-3658 Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics Physics Multidisciplinary Astronomy HIDDEN ORBIT CATALOG Accretion (astrophysics)EVOLUTION Neutron star SPIN High-energy astrophysic Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics Low Mass EMISSION High-energy astrophysics; X-RAY TRANSIENTS; SAX J1808.4-3658; NEUTRON-STARS; RADIO PULSARS; EVOLUTION; EMISSION; SPIN; CATALOG; HIDDEN; ORBIT X-ray pulsar

description

It is thought that neutron stars in low-mass binary systems can accrete matter and angular momentum from the companion star and be spun-up to millisecond rotational periods1, 2, 3. During the accretion stage, the system is called a low-mass X-ray binary, and bright X-ray emission is observed. When the rate of mass transfer decreases in the later evolutionary stages, these binaries host a radio millisecond pulsar4, 5 whose emission is powered by the neutron star’s rotating magnetic field6. This evolutionary model is supported by the detection of millisecond X-ray pulsations from several accreting neutron stars7, 8 and also by the evidence for a past accretion disc in a rotation-powered millisecond pulsar9. It has been proposed that a rotation-powered pulsar may temporarily switch on10, 11, 12 during periods of low mass inflow13 in some such systems. Only indirect evidence for this transition has hitherto been observed14, 15, 16, 17, 18. Here we report observations of accretion-powered, millisecond X-ray pulsations from a neutron star previously seen as a rotation-powered radio pulsar. Within a few days after a month-long X-ray outburst, radio pulses were again detected. This not only shows the evolutionary link between accretion and rotation-powered millisecond pulsars, but also that some systems can swing between the two states on very short timescales.

year	journal	country	edition	language
2013-09-01	Nature

10.1038/nature12470 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12470