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Radio Pulsar / X-ray Binary Link

Widdekind
in Astronomy and Cosmology

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http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1172740v1?sa_campaign=Email/pap/21-May-2009/10.1126/science.1172740

 

Radio pulsars with millisecond spin periods are thought to have been spun up by 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 last decade. Our optical data show no evidence that one exists today, suggesting that the radio MSP has turned on after a recent LMXB phase.

 

Thanks, that's an interesting bit of news. An observational first of sorts.

 

Some notes on Low Mass X-ray Binaries here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-ray_binary

 

Possible explanation for the 511 keV gamma coming from galactic core.

Edited by Martin

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