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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/56581
- Title
- A radio pulsar/x-ray binary link
- Author(s)
- 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.
- Abstract
- Radio pulsars with millisecond spin periods are thought to have been spun up by the 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 past decade. Our optical data show no evidence that one exists today, suggesting that the radio MSP has turned on after a recent LMXB phase.
- Publication type
- Journal article
- Research centre
- Swinburne University of Technology. Faculty of Information and Communication Technologies. Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing
- Source
- Science, Vol. 324, no. 5933 (Jun 2009), pp. 1411-1414
- Publication year
- 2009
- Keyword(s)
- Binary systems; LMXB systems; Low-mass x-ray binary systems; Millisecond pulsars; MSPs; Radio pulsars; Xray
- Publisher
- American Association for the Advancement of Science
- ISSN
- 0036-8075
- Publisher URL
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1172740
- Copyright
- Copyright © 2009 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science; all rights reserved.
- Additional information
- This research was supported by a West Virginia Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) Research Challenge Grant; an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship; an NWO Veni Fellowship; the Lorne Trottier Chair in Astrophysics and Cosmology; the Canada Research Chair program; an NSERC Discovery Grant, the Fonds Quebecois de la Recherche sur la Nature et les Technologies; the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research; the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI); NSERC; the CFI; the Australia Telescope National Facility Distinguished Visitor program, and the Swinburne University of Technology Visiting Distinguished Researcher Scheme.
- Peer reviewed
