Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Article
  • Published:

Accretion torques in X-ray pulsars

Abstract

The character of intrinsic pulse period changes in X-ray pulsars supports the now conventional model for these sources, wherein the X-ray luminosity is derived from the accretion of matter on to a rotating, magnetised compact object, probably a neutron star, and the pulse period changes are caused by its interaction with the accreting matter.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Rappaport, S. & Joss, P. C. Nature 266, 123 (1977).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Joss, P. C. & Rappaport, S. Nature 264, 219 (1976).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Ostriker, J. P. & Bodenheimer, P. Astrophys. J. 151, 1089 (1968).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Katz, J. I. Astrophys. J. (in the press).

  5. Fabian, A. C., Pringle, J. E. & Rees, M. J. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. 175, 43 (1976).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Rappaport, S., Joss, P. C. & McClintock, J. E. Astrophys. J. Lett. 206, L103 (1976).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Pringle, J. E. & Rees, M. J. Astr. Astrophys. 21, 1 (1972).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Lamb, F. K., Pethick, C. J. & Pines, D. Astrophys. J. 184, 271 (1973).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Elsner, R. F. & Lamb, F. K. Nature 262, 356 (1976).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. Joss, P. C., Li, F., Wang, Y.-M. & Hearn, D. Astrophys. J. (in the press).

  11. Giacconi, R. in Astrophysics and Gravitation, Proceedings of the 16th International Solvay Congress, p. 27 (L'Université de Bruxelles, 1974).

    Google Scholar 

  12. Lamb, F. K., Pines, D. & Shaham, J. in X-ray Binaries, 141 (NASA SP-389, 1976).

    Google Scholar 

  13. Bahcall, J. N., Joss, P. C. & Avni, Y. Astrophys. J. 191, 211 (1974).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  14. Jones, C. & Formann, W. Astrophys. J. Lett. 209, LI31 (1976).

    Google Scholar 

  15. McClintock, J. E. et al. Astrophys. J. Lett. 206, L99 (1976).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  16. Tuohy, I. R. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. 174, 45P (1976).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. Fabbiano, G. & Schreier, E. J. preprint.

  18. Osmer, P., Hiltner, A. & Whelan, J. A. J. Astrophys. J. 195, 705 (1975).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. White, N. E., Mason, K. O. & Sanford, P. W. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. 176, 201 (1976).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. Brucato, R. J. & Kristian, J. Astrophys. J. Lett. 173, L105 (1972).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  21. Primini, F. et al. Astrophys. J. Lett. 210, L71 (1976).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  22. Henry, P. & Schreier, E. Astrophys. J. Lett. 212, L13 (1977).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  23. White, N. E., Mason, K. O., Huckle, H. E., Charles, P. A. & Sanford, P. W. Astrophys. J. Lett. 209, L119 (1976).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  24. Swank, J. H. et al. Astrophys. J. Lett. 209, L57 (1976).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Hoffman, J., Lewin, W. H. G. & Doty, J., talk presented at the Meeting of the American Astronomical Society (HEAD), Cambridge, Massachusetts (1976).

  26. Vidal, N. V. Astrophys. J. Lett. 186, L81 (1973).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Bradt, H. V. IAU Circ. No. 2957 (1976).

  28. Mauder, H. & Ammann, M. IAU Circ. No. 2980 (1976).

  29. Lewin, W. H. G., Ricker, G. R. & McClintock, J. E. Astrophys. J. Lett. 169, L17 (1971).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  30. Lewin, W. H. G., Hoffman, J. & Doty, J., talk presented at the Meeting of the American Astronomical Society (HEAD), Cambridge, Massachusetts (1976).

  31. Becker, R. H. et al. Astrophys. J. Lett. 207, L167 (1976).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  32. Davidsen, A., Malina, R. & Bowyer, S. in X-ray Binaries, 691 (NASA SP-389, 1976).

    Google Scholar 

  33. Glass, I. S. & Feast, M. W. Nature phys. Sci. 245, 39 (1973).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Rosenberg, F. D., Eyles, C. J., Skinner, G. K. & Willmore, A. P. Nature 256, 628 (1975).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  35. Bradt, H. et al. Astrophys. J. Lett. 204, L67 (1976).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  36. Rappaport, S., Joss, P. C., Bradt, H. V., Clark, G. W. & Jernigan, J. G. Astrophys J. Lett. 208, L119 (1976).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  37. Stier, M. & Liller, W. Astrophys. J. 206, 257 (1976).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  38. Basko, M. M. & Sunyaev, R. A. Astr. Astrophys. 42, 311 (1975).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  39. Shapiro, S. L. & Lightman, A. P. preprint.

  40. Cameron, A., talk presented at The Aspen Theoretical Astrophysics Workshop on the Theory of Compact X-ray Sources (1975).

  41. Kundt, W. Phys. Lett. 57 A, 195 (1976).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Parsignault, D. R., Schreier, E., Grindlay, J. & Gursky, H. Astrophys. J. Lett. 209, L73 (1976).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Rappaport, S., Joss, P. Accretion torques in X-ray pulsars. Nature 266, 683–685 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1038/266683a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/266683a0

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing