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Swings between rotation and accretion power in a binary millisecond pulsar

Nature volume 501, pages 517–520 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

It is thought that neutron stars in low-mass binary systems can accrete matter and angular momentum from the companion star and be spun-up to millisecond rotational periods1,2,3. During the accretion stage, the system is called a low-mass X-ray binary, and bright X-ray emission is observed. When the rate of mass transfer decreases in the later evolutionary stages, these binaries host a radio millisecond pulsar4,5 whose emission is powered by the neutron star’s rotating magnetic field6. This evolutionary model is supported by the detection of millisecond X-ray pulsations from several accreting neutron stars7,8 and also by the evidence for a past accretion disc in a rotation-powered millisecond pulsar9. It has been proposed that a rotation-powered pulsar may temporarily switch on10,11,12 during periods of low mass inflow13 in some such systems. Only indirect evidence for this transition has hitherto been observed14,15,16,17,18. Here we report observations of accretion-powered, millisecond X-ray pulsations from a neutron star previously seen as a rotation-powered radio pulsar. Within a few days after a month-long X-ray outburst, radio pulses were again detected. This not only shows the evolutionary link between accretion and rotation-powered millisecond pulsars, but also that some systems can swing between the two states on very short timescales.

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Figure 1: Variability of the X-ray emission of IGR J18245–2452.
Figure 2: Spin and orbit of IGR J18245–2452.
Figure 3: Long-term X-ray variability of IGR J18245–2452.

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Acknowledgements

This letter is based on ToO observations made with XMM-Newton, Chandra, INTEGRAL, Swift, ATCA, WSRT, GBT and PKS. We thank the respective directors and operation teams for their support. Work was done in the framework of grants AYA2012-39303, SGR2009-811 and iLINK2011-0303, and with the support of CEA/Irfu, IN2P3/CNRS and CNES (France), INAF (Italy), NWO (The Netherlands) and NSERC (Canada). A.Pa. is supported by a Juan de la Cierva Research Fellowship. A.R. acknowledges Sardinia Regional Government for financial support (P.O.R. Sardegna ESF 2007-13). D.F.T. was additionally supported by a Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. L.P. thanks the Société Académique de Genève and the Swiss Society for Astrophysics and Astronomy. We acknowledge the use of data supplied by the UK Swift Science Data Centre at the University of Leicester. A.Pa. thanks S. Giannetti, D. Lai, R. V. E. Lovelace, M. M. Romanova and T. Tauris for discussions, and S. D. Wolf for operational support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Space Sciences (ICE; IEEC-CSIC), Campus UAB, Faculty of Science, Torre C5, Parell, 2a Planta, E-08193 Barcelona, Spain,

    A. Papitto, N. Rea & D. F. Torres

  2. IEEC-CSIC), Campus UAB, Faculty of Science, Torre C5, Parell, 2a Planta, E-08193 Barcelona, Spain,

    A. Papitto, N. Rea & D. F. Torres

  3. Department of Astronomy, ISDC, Université de Genève, 16 chemin d’Écogia, 16, CH-1290 Versoix, Switzerland,

    C. Ferrigno, E. Bozzo & L. Pavan

  4. Dipartimento di Fisica, Universitá di Cagliari, SP Monserrato-Sestu, Km 0.7, I-09042 Monserrato, Italy,

    L. Burderi & A. Riggio

  5. INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari, loc. Poggio dei Pini, strada 54, I-09012 Capoterra, Italy,

    M. Burgay & A. Possenti

  6. INAF –Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Via Bianchi 46, I-23807 Merate, Lecco, Italy,

    S. Campana

  7. Dipartimento di Fisica e Chimica, Universitá di Palermo, via Archirafi 36, I-90123 Palermo, Italy,

    T. Di Salvo

  8. International Space Science Institute, Hallerstrasse 6, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland,

    M. Falanga

  9. University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith South DC, NSW 1797, Australia,

    M. D. Filipović & G. F. Wong

  10. Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, auf dem Hügel 69, 53121 Bonn, Germany,

    P. C. C. Freire

  11. ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, Postbus 2, 7990 AA Dwingeloo, The Netherlands,

    J. W. T. Hessels

  12. Astronomical Institute “Anton Pannekoek”, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands,

    J. W. T. Hessels

  13. National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, 22901, Virginia, USA

    S. M. Ransom

  14. INAF – Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica, Via U. La Malfa 153, I-90146 Palermo, Italy,

    P. Romano

  15. CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, PO Box 76, Epping, NSW 1710, Australia,

    J. M. Sarkissian & G. F. Wong

  16. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, 6224 Agricultural Road, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z1, Canada,

    I. H. Stairs

  17. INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, Via di Frascati 33, I-00040 Monte Porzio Catone, Roma, Italy,

    L. Stella

  18. Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), 08010 Barcelona, Spain,

    D. F. Torres

  19. CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, Locked Bag 194, Narrabri, NSW 2390, Australia,

    M. H. Wieringa

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  1. A. Papitto
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Contributions

A.Pa., C.F. and E.B. collected and analysed XMM-Newton data. A.Pa. and C.F. detected the pulsar in XMM-Newton data and derived its orbital solution. A.Pa. discovered the equivalence of its parameters with a radio pulsar, the thermonuclear burst and the burst oscillations. N.R. analysed Chandra data, detecting the X-ray quiescent counterpart of the source and past accretion events. L.P., M.H.W., M.D.F. and G.F.W. analysed ATCA data. E.B., S.C., P.R., A.Pa. and A.R. analysed Swift data. E.B. and C.F. analysed INTEGRAL data. J.W.T.H. analysed WSRT data. M.B. and J.M.S. analysed PKS data. J.W.T.H., S.M.R., A.Po., I.H.S. and P.C.C.F. analysed GBT data. A.R. provided software tools. A.Pa., N.R. and J.W.T.H. wrote the manuscript, with significant contribution by all the authors in interpreting the results and editing of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to A. Papitto.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Papitto, A., Ferrigno, C., Bozzo, E. et al. Swings between rotation and accretion power in a binary millisecond pulsar. Nature 501, 517–520 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12470

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