Search results for "Millisecond pulsar"
showing 10 items of 65 documents
Improved orbital parameters of accreting millisecond pulsar SAX J1808.4-3658
2006
Abstract We analyze the three outbursts of the X-ray millisecond pulsar SAX J1808.4-3658 that occurred in 1998, 2000, and 2002 observed with RXTE. With a technique based on epoch folding search we find an unique orbital solution valid over the five years of high temporal resolution data available. We revise the estimate of the orbital period, P orb = 7249.1569(1) s and of its error, which we decrease by one order of magnitude. We also give the first constraint on the orbital period derivative, - 6.6 × 10 - 12 P ˙ orb + 0.8 × 10 - 12 s s - 1 . We find that in 2002 the pulse profile shape is clearly asymmetric, showing a secondary peak at about 145° from the main pulse, which is different fr…
Secular spin-down of the AMP XTE J1751-305
2011
Context. Of the 13 known accreting millisecond pulsars, only a few showed more than one outburst during the RXTE era. XTE J1751-305 showed, after the main outburst in 2002, other three dim outbursts. We report on the timing analysis of the latest one, occurred on October 8, 2009 and serendipitously observed from its very beginning by RXTE. Aims. The detection of the pulsation during more than one outburst permits to obtain a better constraint of the orbital parameters and their evolution as well as to track the secular spin frequency evolution of the source. Methods. Using the RXTE data of the last outburst of the AMP XTE J1751-305, we performed a timing analysis to improve the orbital para…
Timing of the accreting millisecond pulsar IGR~J17511--3057
2010
{Timing analysis of Accretion-powered Millisecond Pulsars (AMPs) is a powerful tool to probe the physics of compact objects. The recently discovered \newigrj is the 12 discovered out of the 13 AMPs known. The Rossi XTE satellite provided an extensive coverage of the 25 days-long observation of the source outburst.} {Our goal is to investigate the complex interaction between the neutron star magnetic field and the accretion disk, determining the angular momentum exchange between them. The presence of a millisecond coherent flux modulation allows us to investigate such interaction from the study of pulse arrival times. In order to separate the neutron star proper spin frequency variations fro…
Precise determination of orbital parameters in system with slowly drifting phases: application to the case of XTE J1807-294
2007
We describe a timing technique that allows to obtain precise orbital parameters of an accreting millisecond pulsar in those cases in which intrinsic variations of the phase delays (caused e.g. by proper variation of the spin frequency) with characteristic timescale longer than the orbital period do not allow to fit the orbital parameters over a long observation (tens of days). We show under which conditions this method can be applied and show the results obtained applying this method to the 2003 outburst observed by RXTE of the accreting millisecond pulsar XTE J1807-294 which shows in its phase delays a non-negligible erratic behavior. We refined the orbital parameters of XTE J1807-294 usin…
Search for multiwavelength emission from the binary millisecond pulsar PSR J1836-2354A in the globular cluster M22
2019
We present a multi-band search for X-ray, optical and $\gamma$-ray emission of the radio binary millisecond pulsar J1836-2354A, hosted in the globular cluster M22. X-ray emission is significantly detected in two Chandra observations, performed in 2005 and 2014, at a luminosity of $\sim$2-3$\times$10$^{30}$ erg s$^{-1}$, in the 0.5-8 keV energy range. The radio and the X-ray source positions are found consistent within 1$\sigma$ error box. No detection is found in archival XMM-Newton and Swift/XRT observations, compatible with the Chandra flux level. The low statistics prevents us to assess if the X-ray source varied between the two observations. The X-ray spectrum is consistent with a power…
On the Optical Counterpart of SAX J1808.4-3658 during Quiescence: Evidence for an Active Radio Pulsar?
2003
The optical counterpart of the binary millisecond X-ray pulsar SAX J1808.4-3658 during quiescence was detected at V =21.5 mag, inconsistent with intrinsic emission from the faint companion star. We propose that the optical emission from this system during quiescence is due to the reprocessing by the companion star and a remnant accretion disk of the rotational energy released by the fast spinning neutron star, switched on, as magneto-dipole rotator (radio pulsar), during quiescence. In this scenario the companion behaves as a bolometer, reprocessing in optical the intercepted fraction of the power emitted by the pulsar. This reprocessed fraction depends only on known binary parameters. Thus…
PSR J1012+5307: younger than it looks?
1998
Lorimer et al. have recently reported that the spin-down age (∼7 × 109 yr) of the low-mass binary pulsar PSR J1012+5307 is much higher than the cooling age (3 × 108 yr) of its white dwarf companion. The proposed solutions for this discrepancy are outlined and discussed. In particular, the revised cooling age estimate proposed by Alberts et al. agrees with data from other low-mass binary pulsar systems if a transition to the ‘classical’ cooling regime occurs between ∼0.14 and ∼0.28 M⊙. If this transition is excluded, PSR J1012+5307 seems to have finished its accretion phase far from the spin-up line.
Spin down of an Accreting Millisecond Pulsar, the case of XTE J1814‐338
2007
We report about a timing analysis performed on the data gathered by RXTE of the accreting millisecond pulsar XTE J1814-338 during its 2003 outburst. The first full orbital solution of this binary system is given. Moreover the evolution of the phase of the pulsed emission reveals that the rotating compact object is spinning down at a rate ν˙ = (-6.7 +/- 0.7) × 10-14 Hz/s, while accreting. This behavior is considered as a result of the braking effect due to the interaction between the magnetosphere and the inner parts of the accretion disc, in the case of an accretion rate low enough to allow the expansion of the magnetospheric radius to the corotation limit. In this context we derive an esti…
Timing of accreting millisecond pulsars
2008
We review recent results from the X-ray timing of accreting millisecond pulsars in LMXBs. This is the first time a timing analysis is performed on accreting millisecond pulsars, and for the first time we can obtain information on the behavior of a very fast pulsar subject to accretion torques. We find both spin-up and spin-down behaviors, from which, using available models for the accretion torques, we derive information on the mass accretion rate and magnetic field of the neutron star in these systems. We also report here the first measure of the orbital period derivative for an accreting millisecond pulsar, derived for SAX J1808.4-3658 over a timespan of more 7 years.
Order in the Chaos: Spin-up and Spin-down during the 2002 Outburst of SAX J1808.4-3658
2006
We present a timing analysis of the 2002 outburst of the accreting millisecond pulsar SAX J1808.4-3658. A study of the phase delays of the entire pulse profile shows a behavior that is surprising and difficult to interpret: superposed to a general trend, a big jump by about 0.2 in phase is visible, starting at day 14 after the beginning of the outburst. An analysis of the pulse profile indicates the presence of a significant first harmonic. Studying the fundamental and the first harmonic separately, we find that the phase delays of the first harmonic are more regular, with no sign of the jump observed in the fundamental. The fitting of the phase delays of the first harmonic with a model whi…