Optical pulsations from a transitional millisecond pulsar

被引:73
作者
Ambrosino, F. [1 ,2 ]
Papitto, A. [3 ]
Stella, L. [1 ,3 ]
Meddi, F.
Cretaro, P. [4 ]
Burderi, L. [5 ]
Di Salvo, T. [6 ]
Israel, G. L. [3 ]
Ghedina, A. [7 ]
Di Fabrizio, L. [7 ]
Riverol, L. [7 ]
机构
[1] Univ Roma La Sapienza, Dipartimento Fis, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, I-00185 Rome, Italy
[2] INAF Ist Astrofis Planetol Spaziali, Via Fosso Cavaliere 100, I-00133 Rome, Italy
[3] INAF Osserv Astronomico Roma, Via Frascati 33, Monte Porzio Catone, Rm, Italy
[4] INFN Sezione Roma 1, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, I-00185 Rome, Italy
[5] Univ Cagliari, Dipartimento Fis, SP Monserrato Sestu,Km 0 7, I-09042 Monserrato, Italy
[6] Univ Palermo, Dipartimento Chim Fis, Via Archirafi 36, I-90124 Palermo, Italy
[7] Fdn Galileo Galilei INAF, Rambla Jose Ana Fernandez Perez 7, E-38712 Brena Baja, Tf, Spain
基金
欧盟地平线“2020”;
关键词
XSS J12270-4859; PSR J1023+0038; RAY; TELESCOPE; ACCRETION; EMISSION; VARIABILITY; SEARCHES; SIGNALS; STATE;
D O I
10.1038/s41550-017-0266-2
中图分类号
P1 [天文学];
学科分类号
0704 ;
摘要
Millisecond pulsars are neutron stars that attain their very fast rotation during a 108-109-yr-long phase of disk accretion of matter from a low-mass companion star(1,2). They can be detected as accretion-powered millisecond X-ray pulsars if towards the end of this phase their magnetic field is strong enough to channel the in-flowing matter towards their magnetic poles(3). When mass transfer is reduced or ceases altogether, pulsed emission generated by magnetospheric particle acceleration and powered by the star rotation is observed, preferentially in the radio(4) and gamma-ray(5) bands. A few transitional millisecond pulsars that swing between an accretion-powered X-ray pulsar regime and a rotationally powered radio pulsar regime in response to variations of the mass inflow rate have been recently identified(6,7). Here, we report the detection of optical pulsations from a transitional millisecond pulsar. The pulsations were observed when the pulsar was surrounded by an accretion disk, and originated inside the magnetosphere or within a few hundreds of kilometres from it. Energy arguments rule out reprocessing of accretion-powered X-ray emission and argue against a process related to accretion onto the pulsar polar caps; synchrotron emission of electrons in a rotation-powered pulsar magnetosphere(8) seems more likely.
引用
收藏
页码:854 / 858
页数:5
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