A millisecond pulsar in an X-ray binary system

Rudy Wijnands and Michiel van der Klis ()
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Rudy Wijnands: Astronomical Institute Anton Pannekoek, University of Amsterdam, and Center for High Energy Astrophysics
Michiel van der Klis: Astronomical Institute Anton Pannekoek, University of Amsterdam, and Center for High Energy Astrophysics

Nature, 1998, vol. 394, issue 6691, 344-346

Abstract: Abstract Ordinary radio pulsars1 are neutron stars with magnetic fields of ∼1012 gauss and spin periods in the range 0.1 to 3 seconds. In contrast, millisecond radio pulsars2 have much weaker fields (∼109 gauss) and faster, millisecond spin rates. For both types of pulsar, the energy driving the radio pulsations is thought to be derived from the rotation of the neutron star. The star gradually ‘spins down’ as energy is radiated away. Millisecond radio pulsars are often located in binary systems3. In a widely accepted theoretical model4,5, they started as ordinary pulsars which lost most of their magnetic field and were ‘spun up’ to millisecond periods by the accretion of matter from a companion star in an X-ray binary system. Evidence6,7,8,9,10,11 for this model has gradually mounted, but direct proof—in the form of the predicted coherent millisecond X-ray pulsations in the persistent flux of an X-ray binary has been lacking, despite many searches12,13,14,15. Here we report the discovery16 of such a pulsar, confirming theoretical expectations. The source will probably become a millisecond radio pulsar when the accretion turns off completely.

Date: 1998
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DOI: 10.1038/28557

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