We report the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) detection of a $γ$-ray source at the position of SAX J1808.4$-$3658. This transient low-mass X-ray binary contains an accreting millisecond puslar, which is only seen during its month-long outbursts and likely switches to be rotation powered during its quiescent state. Emission from the $γ$-ray source can be described by a power law with an exponential cutoff, the characteristic form for pulsar emission. Folding the source's 2.0--300 GeV photons at the binary orbital period, a weak modulation is seen (with an H-test value of $\sim$17). In addition, three sets of archival XMM-Newton data for the source field are analyzed, and we find only one X-ray source with 3--4$σ$ flux variations in the 2$σ$ error circle of the $γ$-ray source. However based on the X-ray properties, this X-ray source is not likely a background AGN, the major class of Fermi sources detected by LAT. These results support the possible association between the $γ$-ray source and SAX J1808.4$-$3658 and thus the scenario that the millisecond pulsar is rotation powered in the quiescent state. Considering a source distance of 3.5 kpc for SAX J1808.4$-$3658, the 0.1--300 GeV luminosity is 5.7$\times 10^{33}$ erg s$^{-1}$, implying a $γ$-ray conversion efficiency of 63\% for the pulsar in this binary.
We report on the analysis of the AstroSat dataset of the accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar SAX J1808.4-3658, obtained during its 2019 outburst. We found coherent pulsations at $\sim 401$ Hz and an orbital solution consistent with previous studies. The 3-20 keV pulse profile can be well fitted with three harmonically related sinusoidal components with background-corrected fractional amplitude of $\sim 3.5 \%$, $\sim 1.2 \%$ and $\sim 0.37 \%$ for fundamental, second and third harmonic, respectively. Our energy-resolved pulse profile evolution study indicate a strong energy dependence. We also …
In this paper we present a coherent timing analysis of the 401 Hz pulsations of the accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar SAX J1808.4-3658 during its 2019 outburst. Using observations collected with the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER), we establish the pulsar spin frequency and orbital phase during its latest epoch. We find that the 2019 outburst shows a pronounced evolution in pulse phase over the course of the outburst. These phase shifts are found to correlate with the source flux, and are interpreted in terms of hot-spot drift on the stellar surface, driven by changes in th…
SAX J1748.9-2021 is an accreting X-ray millisecond pulsar observed in outburst five times since its discovery in 1998. In early October 2017, the source started its sixth outburst, which lasted only ~13 days, significantly shorter than the typical 30 days duration of the previous outbursts. It reached a 0.3-70 keV unabsorbed peak luminosity of $\sim3\times10^{36}$ erg/s. This is the weakest outburst ever reported for this source to date. We analyzed almost simultaneous XMM-Newton, NuSTAR and INTEGRAL observations taken during the decaying phase of its 2017 outburst. We found that the spectral …
We used a combination of deep optical and Halpha images of the Galactic globular cluster NGC 6440, acquired with the Hubble Space Telescope, to identify the optical counterpart to the accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar SAX J1748.9-2021during quiescence. A strong Halpha emission has been detected from a main sequence star (hereafter COM-SAX J1748.9-2021) located at only 0.15" from the nominal position of the X-ray source. The position of the star also agrees with the optical counterpart found by Verbunt et al. (2000) during an outburst. We propose this star as the most likely optical counterpar…
SAX J1810.8-2609 is a faint X-ray transient, mostly known for its abnormally low quiescent thermal luminosity, which disagrees with standard cooling models. It is also one of a small sample of stars whose mass and radius have been estimated using spectral modeling of one of its thermonuclear bursts. Here we report the discovery of millisecond oscillations in a type I thermonuclear X-ray burst from SAX J1810.8-2609 observed by RXTE during the 2007 outburst. A strong signal (Leahy-normalized power of 71.5, 4.5e-9 chance of coincidence with a conservative estimate for the number of trials) was pr…
We report the detection of a possible gamma-ray counterpart of the accreting millisecond pulsar SAX J1808.4-3658. The analysis of ~6 years of data from the Large Area Telescope on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (Fermi-LAT) within a region of 15deg radius around the position of the pulsar reveals a point gamma-ray source detected at a significance of ~6 sigma (Test Statistic TS = 32), with position compatible with that of SAX J1808.4-3658 within 95% Confidence Level. The energy flux in the energy range between 0.6 GeV and 10 GeV amounts to (2.1 +- 0.5) x 10-12 erg cm-2 s-1 and the sp…
The Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) has extensively monitored the August 2019 outburst of the 401 Hz millisecond X-ray pulsar SAX J1808.4-3658. In this Letter, we report on the detection of a bright helium-fueled Type I X-ray burst. With a bolometric peak flux of $(2.3\pm0.1)\times 10^{-7}$ erg/cm^2/s, this was the brightest X-ray burst among all bursting sources observed with NICER to date. The burst shows a remarkable two-stage evolution in flux, emission lines at $1.0$ keV and $6.7$ keV, and burst oscillations at the known pulsar spin frequency, with $\approx4$\% fraction…
Recent timing analysis reveals that the orbital period of the first discovered accreting millisecond pulsar SAX J1808.4-3658 is increasing at a rate $\dot{P}_{\rm orb}=(3.89\pm0.15)\times 10^{-12}~\rm s\,s^{-1}$, which is at least one order of magnitude higher than the value arising from the conservative mass transfer. An ejection of mass loss rate of $10^{-9}~\rm M_{\odot}{\rm yr}^{-1}$ from the donor star at the inner Lagrangian point during the quiescence state could interpret the observed orbital period derivative. However, it is unknown whether this source can offer such a high mass loss …
We study the relation between the 300-700 Hz upper kHz quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) and the 401 Hz coherent pulsations across all outbursts of the accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar SAX J1808.4-3658 observed with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. We find that the pulse amplitude systematically changes by a factor of ~2 when the upper kHz QPO frequency passes through 401 Hz: it halves when the QPO moves to above the spin frequency and doubles again on the way back. This establishes for the first time the existence of a direct effect of kHz QPOs on the millisecond pulsations and provides a ne…
The Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer has observed five outbursts from the transient 2.5 ms accretion-powered pulsar SAX J1808.4-3658 during 1998-2008. We present a pulse timing study of the most recent outburst and compare it with the previous timing solutions. The spin frequency of the source continues to decrease at a rate of (-5.5+/-1.2)x10^-18 Hz/s, which is consistent with the previously determined spin derivative. The spin-down occurs mostly during quiescence, and it is most likely due to the magnetic dipole torque from a B = 1.5x10^8 G dipolar field at the neutron star surface. We also find …
Based on the model of the accretion-induced magnetic field decay of a neutron star (NS), millisecond pulsars (MSPs) will obtain their minimum magnetic field when the NS magnetosphere radius shrinks to the stellar surface during the binary accretion phase. We find that this minimummagnetic field is related to the accretion rate Mdot as Bmin ~2.0*10^7 G( Mdot/Mdot_min)^1/2, where Mdot_min = 4.6*10^15 g/s is the average minimum accretion rate required for MSP formation and is constrained by the long-term accretion time, which corresponds to the companion lifetime, being less than the Hubble time.…
SAX J1748.9-2021 is a transient accretion powered millisecond X-ray pulsar located in the Globular cluster NGC 6440. We report on the spectral and timing analysis of SAX J1748.9-2021 performed on AstroSat data taken during its faint and short outburst of 2017. We derived the best-fitting orbital solution for the 2017 outburst and obtained an average local spin frequency of 442.361098(3) Hz. The pulse profile obtained from 3-7 keV and 7-20 keV energy bands suggest constant fractional amplitude ~0.5% for fundamental component, contrary to previously observed energy pulse profile dependence. Our …
R-modes can generate strong magnetic fields in the core of accreting millisecond neutron stars (NSs). The diffusion of these fields outside the core causes the growth of the external magnetic field and thus it affects the evolution of the spin down rates $\dot{P}$ of the millisecond pulsars (MSPs). The diffusion of the internal magnetic field provides a new evolutionary path for the MSPs. This scenario could explain the large $\dot{P}$ of the pulsars J1823-3021A and J1824-2452A.
We have studied the aperiodic variability of the 401 Hz accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar SAX J1808.4-3658 using the complete data set collected with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer over 14 years of observation. The source shows a number of exceptional aperiodic timing phenomena that are observed against a backdrop of timing properties that show consistent trends in all five observed outbursts and closely resemble those of other atoll sources. We performed a detailed study of the enigmatic ~410 Hz QPO, which has only been observed in SAX J1808.4-3658. We find that it appears only when the upp…
We report on a thermonuclear (type-I) X-ray burst that was detected from the neutron star low-mass X-ray binary SAX J1810.8-2609 in 2007 with Swift. This event was longer (~20 min) and more energetic (a radiated energy of Eb~6.5E39 erg) than other X-ray bursts observed from this source. A possible explanation for the peculiar properties is that the X-ray burst occurred during the early stage of the outburst when the neutron star was relatively cold, which allows for the accumulation of a thicker layer of fuel. We also report on a new accretion outburst of SAX J1810.8-2609 that was observed wit…
The accreting millisecond pulsar SAX J1808.4-3658 has shown a peculiar orbital evolution in the past with an orbital expansion much faster than expected from standard binary evolutionary scenarios. Previous limits on the pulsar spin frequency derivative during transient accretion outbursts were smaller than predicted by standard magnetic accretion torque theory, while the spin evolution between outbursts was consistent with magnetic dipole spin-down. In this paper we present the results of a coherent timing analysis of the 2011 outburst observed by the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer and extend ou…
We analyzed a 115 ks XMM-Newton observation and the stacking of 8 days of INTEGRAL observations, taken during the raise of the 2015 outburst of the accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar SAX J1748.9-2021. The source showed numerous type-I burst episodes during the XMM-Newton observation, and for this reason we studied separately the persistent and burst epochs. We described the persistent emission with a combination of two soft thermal components, a cold thermal Comptonization component (~2 keV) and an additional hard X-ray emission described by a power-law (photon index ~2.3). The continuum compo…
The accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar SAX J1808.4--3658 shows peculiar low luminosity states known as "reflares" after the end of the main outburst. During this phase the X-ray luminosity of the source varies by up to three orders of magnitude in less than 1-2 days. The lowest X-ray luminosity observed reaches a value of ~1e32 erg/s, only a factor of a few brighter than its typical quiescent level. We investigate the 2008 and 2005 reflaring state of SAX J1808.4-3658 to determine whether there is any evidence for a change in the accretion flow with respect to the main outburst. We perform a mu…
With the observations from \textit{Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer}, we search and study the X-ray bursts of accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar SAX~J1748.9-2021 during its 2010 outburst. We find 13 X-ray bursts, including 12 standard type-\uppercase\expandafter{\romannumeral1} X-ray bursts and an irregular X-ray burst which lacks cooling tail. During the outburst, the persistent emission occurred at $\sim$(1-5)$\%\rm {\dot{M}_{Edd}}$. We use a combination model of a blackbody (BB), a powerlaw, and a line component to fit the persistent emission spectra. Another BB is added into the combination mod…
We report on the timing analysis of the 2015 outburst of the intermittent accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar SAX J1748.9-2021 observed on March 4 by the X-ray satellite XMM-Newton. By phase-connecting the time of arrivals of the observed pulses, we derived the best-fit orbital solution for the 2015 outburst. We investigated the energy pulse profile dependence finding that the pulse fractional amplitude increases with energy while no significant time lags are detected. Moreover, we investigated the previous outbursts from this source, finding previously undetected pulsations in some intervals d…
We present a timing analysis of the 2009 outburst of the accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar Swift J1756.9-2508, and a re-analysis of the 2007 outburst. The source shows a short recurrence time of only ~2 years between outbursts. Thanks to the approximately 2 year long baseline of data, we can constrain the magnetic field of the neutron star to be 0.4x10^8 G < B < 9x10^8 G, which is within the range of typical accreting millisecond pulsars. The 2009 timing analysis allows us to put constraints on the accretion torque: the spin frequency derivative within the outburst has an upper limit of $|\do…
We present a coherent timing analysis of the 2003 outburst of the accreting millisecond pulsar XTE J1807-294. We find an upper limit for the spin frequency derivative of 5E-14 Hz/s. The sinusoidal fractional amplitudes of the pulsations are the highest observed among the accreting millisecond pulsars and can reach values of up to 27% (2.5-30 keV). The pulse arrival time residuals of the fundamental follow a linear anti-correlation with the fractional amplitudes that suggests hot spot motion over the surface of the neutron star both in longitude and latitude. An anti-correlation between residua…
In millisecond pulsars the existence of the Coriolis force allows the development of the so-called Rossby oscillations (r-modes) which are know to be unstable to emission of gravitational waves. These instabilities are mainly damped by the viscosity of the star or by the existence of a strong magnetic field. A fraction of the observed millisecond pulsars are known to be inside Low Mass X-ray Binaries (LMXBs), systems in which a neutron star (or a black hole) is accreting from a donor whose mass is smaller than 1 $M_\odot$. Here we show that the r-mode instabilities can generate strong toroidal…
The measurement of the spin frequency in accreting millisecond X-ray pulsars (AMXPs) is strongly affected by the presence of an unmodeled component in the pulse arrival times called 'timing noise'. We show that it is possible to attribute much of this timing noise to a pulse phase offset that varies in correlation with X-ray flux, such that noise in flux translates into timing noise. This could explain many of the pulse frequency variations previously interpreted in terms of true spin up or spin down, and would bias measured spin frequencies. Spin frequencies improved under this hypothesis are…
About 0.2 solar mass is absorbed by the millisecond pulsar (MSP) at the binary accretion phase, while the polar magnetic field of MSP is diluted to a magnitude of order 108.5 Gauss, which is proportionally related to the mass accretion rate. It is found that the minimum magnetic field of MSP can be as low as 107 Gauss if the accretion rate of the binary system reaches its the minimum value of 1015 g/s. This bottom field has nothing to do with the MSP initial field. Some questions on MPSs are proposed and answered.
During the last 10 years, INTEGRAL made a unique contribution to the study of accreting millisecond X-ray pulsars (AMXPs), discovering three of the 14 sources now known of this class. Besides increasing the number of known AMXPs, INTEGRAL also carried out observations of these objects above 20 keV, substantially advancing our understanding of their behaviour. We present here a review of all the AMXPs observed with INTEGRAL and discuss the physical interpretation of their behaviour in the X-ray domain. We focus in particular on the lightcurve profile during outburst, as well as the timing, spec…
Differential rotation induced by the r-mode instability can generate very strong toroidal fields in the core of accreting, millisecond spinning neutron stars. We introduce explicitly the magnetic damping term in the evolution equations of the r-modes and solve them numerically in the Newtonian limit, to follow the development and growth of the internal magnetic field. We show that the strength of the latter can reach large values, $B \sim 10^{14} $ G, in the core of the fastest accreting neutron stars. This is strong enough to induce a significant quadrupole moment of the neutron star mass dis…
In this work we have estimated upper and lower limits to the strength of the magnetic dipole moment of all 14 accreting millisecond X-ray pulsars observed with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE). For each source we searched the archival RXTE data for the highest and lowest flux levels with a significant detection of pulsations. We assume these flux levels to correspond to the closest and farthest location of the inner edge of the accretion disk at which channelled accretion takes place. By estimating the accretion rate from the observed luminosity at these two flux levels, we place upper a…
Broadband Timing and Spectral Study of Accreting Millisecond X-ray Pulsar SAX J1808.4$-$3658 during Its 2022 Outburst
Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA)（大学间天文学与天体物理学中心）；Universitá degli Studi di Cagliari（卡利亚里大学）；Department of Applied Sciences, UPES（印度石油大学应用科学系）
Accreting Millisecond X-Ray Pulsars (AMXPs) are astrophysical laboratories without parallel in the study of extreme physics. In this chapter we review the past fifteen years of discoveries in the field. We summarize the observations of the fifteen known AMXPs, with a particular emphasis on the multi-wavelength observations that have been carried out since the discovery of the first AMXP in 1998. We review accretion torque theory, the pulse formation process, and how AMXP observations have changed our view on the interaction of plasma and magnetic fields in strong gravity. We also explain how t…
We introduce a new method for analysing the aperiodic variability of coherent pulsations in accreting millisecond X-ray pulsars. Our method involves applying a complex frequency correction to the time-domain light curve, allowing for the aperiodic modulation of the pulse amplitude to be robustly extracted in the frequency domain. We discuss the statistical properties of the resulting modulation spectrum and show how it can be correlated with the non-pulsed emission to determine if the periodic and aperiodic variability are coupled processes. Using this method, we study the 598.88 Hz coherent p…
Measuring the spin of Accreting Neutron Stars is important because it can provide constraints on the Equation of State of ultra-dense matter. Particularly crucial to our physical understanding is the discovery of sub-millisecond pulsars, because this will immediately rule out many proposed models for the ground state of dense matter. So far, it has been impossible to accomplish this because, for still unknown reasons, only a small amount of Accreting Neutron Stars exhibit coherent pulsations. An intriguing explanation for the lack of pulsations is that they form only on neutron stars accreting…
We report on the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) monitoring campaign of the 468 Hz accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar IGR J17379-3747. From a detailed spectral and timing analysis of the coherent pulsations we find that they show a strong energy dependence, with soft thermal emission lagging about 640 microseconds behind the hard, Comptonized emission. Additionally, we observe uncommonly large pulse fractions, with measured amplitudes in excess of 20% sinusoidal fractional amplitude across the NICER passband and fluctuations of up to ~70%. Based on a phase-resolved spectral …
We present X-ray, ultraviolet, and optical observations of 1RXS J154439.4-112820, the most probable counterpart of the unassociated Fermi LAT source 3FGL J1544.6-1125. The optical data reveal rapid variability, which is a feature of accreting systems. The X-rays exhibit large-amplitude variations in the form of fast switching (within ~10 s) between two distinct flux levels that differ by a factor of $\approx$10. The detailed optical and X-ray behavior is virtually identical to that seen in the accretion-disk-dominated states of the transitional millisecond pulsar binaries PSR J1023+0038 and XS…
We present an X-ray timing and spectral analysis of the Be/X-ray binary SAX J2103.5+4545 at a time when the Be star's circumstellar disk had disappeared and thus the main reservoir of material available for accretion had extinguished. In this very low optical state, pulsed X-ray emission was detected at a level of L_X~10^{33} erg/s. This is the lowest luminosity at which pulsations have ever been detected in an accreting pulsar. The derived spin period is 351.13 s, consistent with previous observations. The source continues its overall long-term spin-up, which reduced the spin period by 7.5 s …
The dynamics of the plasma in the inner regions of an accretion disk around accreting millisecond X-ray pulsars is controlled by the magnetic field of the neutron star. The interaction between an accretion disk and a strong magnetic field is not well-understood, particularly at low accretion rates (the so-called ``propeller regime'). This is due in part to the lack of clear observational diagnostics to constrain the physics of the disk-field interaction. Here we associate the strong ~1 Hz modulation seen in the accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar NGC 6440 X-2 with an instability that arises whe…
IGR J17591$-$2342 is a 527-Hz accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar that was discovered in outburst in 2018 August. In this paper, we present quasi-simultaneous radio and X-ray monitoring of this source during the early part of the outburst. IGR J17591$-$2342 is highly absorbed in X-rays, with an equivalent hydrogen absorption along the line of sight, $N_{\rm H}$, of $\approx$4.4$\times$10$^{22}$\,cm$^{-2}$, where the Galactic column density is expected to be $\approx$1 -- 2$\times$10$^{22}$\,cm$^{-2}$. The high absorption suggests that the source is either relatively distant ($>$6\,kpc), or the …
We study the 205.9 Hz pulsations of the accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar NGC 6440 X-2 across all outbursts observed with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer over a period of 800 days. We find the pulsations are highly sinusoidal with a fundamental amplitude of 5%-15% rms and a second harmonic that is only occasionally detected with amplitudes of <2% rms. By connecting the orbital phase across multiple outbursts, we obtain an accurate orbital ephemeris for this source and constrain its 57 min orbital period to sub-ms precision. We do not detect an orbital period derivative to an upper limit of $ …
We present the discovery of 163.65 Hz X-ray pulsations from IGR J17062-6143 in the only observation obtained from the source with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. This detection makes IGR J17062-6143 the lowest-frequency accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar presently known. The pulsations are detected in the 2 - 12 keV band with an overall significance of 4.3 sigma, and an observed pulsed amplitude of 5.54 +- 0.67 % (in this band). Both dynamic power spectral and coherent phase timing analysis indicate that the pulsation frequency is decreasing during the 1.2 ks observation in a manner consisten…
In this work I report on the stochastic X-ray variability of the 340 Hz accreting millisecond pulsar MAXI J0911-655. Analyzing pointed observations of the XMM-Newton and NuSTAR observatories I find that the source shows broad band-limited stochastic variability in the $0.01-10$ Hz range, with a total fractional variability of $\sim24\%$ rms in the $0.4-3$ keV energy band, which increases to $\sim40\%$ rms in the $3-10$ keV band. Additionally a pair of harmonically related quasi-periodic oscillations are discovered. The fundamental frequency of this harmonic pair is observed between frequencies…
We report on the coherent timing analysis of the 182 Hz accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar Swift J1756.9$-$2508 during its 2018 outburst as observed with the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER). Combining our NICER observations with Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer observations of the 2007 and 2009 outbursts, we also studied the long-term spin and orbital evolution of this source. We find that the binary system is well described by a constant orbital period model, with an upper limit on the orbital period derivative of $|\dot P_b| < 7.4\times 10^{-13}$ s s$^{-1}$. Additionally, we im…
A new accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar, IGR J17511-3057, was discovered in outburst on 2009 September 12 during the INTEGRAL Galactic bulge monitoring programme. To study the evolution of the source X-ray flux and spectral properties during the outburst, we requested a Swift monitoring of IGRJ17511-3057. In this paper we report on the results of the first two weeks of monitoring the source. The persistent emission of IGR J17511-3057 during the outburst is modeled well with an absorbed blackbody (kT~0.9 keV) and a power-law component (photon index~1-2), similar to what has been observed from …
The accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar (AMXP) SAX J1808.4-3658, shows a peculiar orbital evolution that proceeds at a much faster pace than predicted by conservative binary evolution models. It is important to identify the underlying mechanism responsible for this behavior because it can help to understand how this system evolves. It has also been suggested that, when in quiescence, SAX J1808.4-3658 turns on as a radio pulsar, a circumstance that might provide a link between AMXPs and black-widow radio pulsars. In this work we report the results of a deep radio pulsation search at 2 GHz using …
HETE J1900.1--2455 is a peculiar accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar (AMXP) because it has shown intermittent pulsations after 22 days from the beginning of its outburst. The origin of intermittent pulses in accreting systems remains to be understood. To better investigate the phenomenon of intermittent pulsations here we present an analysis of 7 years of X-ray data collected with the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer and focus on the aperiodic variability. We show that the power spectral components follow the same frequency correlations as the non-pulsating atoll sources. We also study the known kHz…
We present the X-ray light curves of the last two outbursts --2014 & 2016-- of the well known accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar (AMXP) Aquila X-1 using the monitor of all sky X-ray image (MAXI) observations in the $2-20$ keV band. After calibrating the (MAXI) count rates to the all-sky monitor (ASM) level, we report that the 2016 outburst is the most energetic event of Aql X-1, ever observed from this source. We show that 2016 outburst is a member of the long-high class according to the classification presented by Güngör et al. with $\sim68$ cnt/s maximum flux and $\sim60$ days duration time …
Pulse profile modelling of accreting millisecond pulsars with disc occultation and its impact on parameter inference
Nanjing University（南京大学）；Key Laboratory of Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics (Nanjing University), Ministry of Education（南京大学现代天文与天体物理教育部重点实验室）；Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy, University of Amsterdam（阿姆斯特丹大学安东·潘内克天文研究所）；Gravitation and Astroparticle Physics Amsterdam (GRAPPA), University of Amsterdam（阿姆斯特丹大学引力与天体粒子物理学阿姆斯特丹中心）；University of Helsinki（赫尔辛基大学）；University of Turku（图尔库大学）
The large majority of neutron stars (NSs) in low mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) have never shown detectable pulsations despite several decades of intense monitoring. The reason for this remains an unsolved problem that hampers our ability to measure the spin frequency of most accreting NSs. The accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar (AMXP) HETE J1900.1--2455 is an intermittent pulsar that exhibited pulsations at about 377 Hz for the first 2 months and then turned in a non-pulsating source. Understanding why this happened might help to understand why most LMXBs do not pulsate. We present a 7 year long…
In this paper, we have investigated the accreting millisecond X-ray pulsars, which are rapidly rotating neutron stars in low-mass X-ray binaries. These systems show coherent X-ray pulsations that arise when the accretion flow is magnetically channeled to the stellar surface. Here, we have developed the fundamental equations for an accretion disc around accreting millisecond X-ray pulsars in the presence of a dynamo generated magnetic fields in the inner part of the disc and we have also formulated the numerical method for the structure equations in the inner region of the disc and the highest …
It is commonly believed that millisecond radio pulsars have been spun up by transfer of matter and angular momentum from a low-mass companion during an X-ray active mass transfer phase. A subclass of low-mass X-ray binaries is that of the accreting millisecond X-ray pulsars, transient systems that show periods of X-ray quiescence during which radio emission could switch on. The aim of this work is to search for millisecond pulsations from three accreting millisecond X-ray pulsars, XTE J1751-305, XTE J1814-338, and SAX J1808.4-3658, observed during their quiescent X-ray phases at high radio fre…
We report on a coherent timing analysis of the 163 Hz accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar IGR J17062-6143. Using data collected with the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer and XMM-Newton, we investigated the pulsar evolution over a timespan of four years. We obtained a unique phase-coherent timing solution for the stellar spin, finding the source to be spinning up at a rate of $(3.77\pm0.09)\times 10^{-15}$ Hz/s. We further find that the $0.4-6$ keV pulse fraction varies gradually between 0.5% and 2.5% following a sinusoidal oscillation with a $1210\pm40$ day period. Finally, we supplem…
Rotation-powered millisecond radio pulsars have been spun up to their present spin period by a $10^8$ - $10^9$ yr long X-ray-bright phase of accretion of matter and angular momentum in a low-to-intermediate mass binary system. Recently, the discovery of transitional pulsars that alternate cyclically between accretion and rotation-powered states on time scales of a few years or shorter, has demonstrated this evolutionary scenario. Here, we present a thorough statistical analysis of the spin distributions of the various classes of millisecond pulsars to assess the evolution of their spin period …
In outburst, neutron star X-ray binaries produce less powerful jets than black holes at a given X-ray luminosity. This has made them more difficult to study as they fade towards quiescence. To explore whether neutron stars power jets at low accretion rates ($L_{\rm X} \lesssim 10^{36}$ erg s$^{-1}$), we investigate the radio and X-ray properties of three accreting millisecond X-ray pulsars (IGR J17511-3057, SAX J1808.4-3658 and IGR J00291+5934) during their outbursts in 2015, and of the non-pulsing neutron star Cen X-4 in quiescence (2015) and in outburst (1979). We did not detect the radio co…
The measured spin-down rates in quiescence of the transient accreting millisecond pulsars IGR J00291+5934, XTE J1751-305, SAX J1808.4-3658, and Swift J1756.9-2508 have been used to estimate the magnetic moments of these objects assuming standard magnetic dipole braking. It is shown that this approach leads to an overestimate, if the amount of residual accretion is enough to distort the magnetosphere away from a force-free configuration, through magnetospheric mass loading or crushing, so that the lever arm of the braking torque migrates inside the light cylinder. We derive an alternative spin-…
We present Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array radio frequency observations of the new accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar (AMXP), IGR J16597$-$3704, located in the globular cluster NGC 6256. With these data, we detect a radio counterpart to IGR J16597$-$3704, and determine an improved source position. Pairing our radio observations with quasi-simultaneous Swift/XRT X-ray observations, we place IGR J16597$-$3704 on the radio -- X-ray luminosity plane, where we find that IGR J16597$-$3704 is one of the more radio-quiet neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries known to date. We discuss the mechanisms tha…
We report the discovery of burst oscillations at the spin frequency in ten thermonuclear bursts from the accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar (AMXP) IGR J17511-3057. The burst oscillation properties are, like those from the persistent AMXPs SAX J1808.4-3658 and XTE J1814-338, anomalous compared to burst oscillations from intermittent pulsars or non-pulsing LMXBs. Like SAX J1808.4-3658 they show frequency drifts in the rising phase rather than the tail. There is also evidence for harmonic content. Where IGR J17511-3057 is unusual compared to the other two persistent pulsars is that oscillations a…
