Related papers: Gravitational Waves and the Maximum Spin Frequency…
We summarize the observations of the spin periods of rapidly accreting neutron stars. If gravitational radiation is responsible for balancing the accretion torque at the observed spin frequencies of ~300 Hz, then the brightest of these…
The fastest-spinning neutron stars in low-mass X-ray binaries, despite having undergone millions of years of accretion, have been observed to spin well below the Keplerian break-up frequency. We simulate the spin evolution of synthetic…
Rapidly rotating neutron stars in Low Mass X-ray Binaries have been proposed as an interesting source of gravitational waves. In this chapter we present estimates of the gravitational wave emission for various scenarios, given the…
X-ray observations suggest that neutron stars in low mass X-ray binaries (LMXB) are rotating with frequencies from 300 - 600 Hz. These spin rates are significantly less than the break-up rates for essentially all realistic neutron star…
Spinning neutron stars can emit long-lived gravitational waves. There are several mechanisms that can produce such continuous wave emission. These mechanisms relate to the strains in the elastic crust, the star's magnetic field,…
Gravitational waves are tiny disturbances in space-time and are a fundamental, although not yet directly confirmed, prediction of General Relativity. Rapidly rotating neutron stars are one of the possible sources of gravitational radiation…
Accretion via disks can make neutron stars in low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) fast spinning, and some of these stars are detected as millisecond pulsars. Here we report a practical way to find out if a neutron star in a transient LMXB has…
The distribution of the spin frequencies of neutron stars in low-mass X-ray binaries exhibits a cut-off at 730 Hz, below the break-up frequency (mass-shedding limit) of neutron stars. The absence of the sub-millisecond pulsars presents a…
Estimates of the magnetic field of neutron stars in X-ray pulsars are obtained using the hypothesis of the equilibrium period for disk and wind accretion and also from the BATSE data on timing of X-ray pulsars using the observed maximum…
In this paper we discuss the spin-equilibrium of accreting neutron stars in LMXBs. We demonstrate that, when combined with a naive spin-up torque, the observed data leads to inferred magnetic fields which are at variance with those of…
In this article I will review the theory behind the gravitational wave driven r-mode instability in rapidly rotating neutron stars and discuss which constraints can be derived from observations of spins and temperatures in Low Mass X-ray…
Neutron stars emitting continuous gravitational waves may be regarded as gravitational pulsars, in the sense that it could be possible to track the evolution of their rotational period with long-baseline observations of next-generation…
High amplitude X-ray brightness oscillations during thermonuclear X-ray bursts were discovered with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) in early 1996. Spectral and timing evidence strongly supports the conclusion that these oscillations…
We propose that when neutron stars in low-mass X-ray binaries accrete sufficient mass and become millisecond pulsars, the interiors of these stars may undergo phase transitions, which excite stellar radial oscillations. We show that the…
Neutron stars are excellent emitters of gravitational waves. Squeezing matter beyond nuclear densities invites exotic physical processes, many of which violently transfer large amounts of mass at relativistic velocities, disrupting…
The spin frequency distribution of accreting millisecond X-ray pulsars cuts off sharply above 730 Hz, well below the breakup spin rate for most neutron star equations of state. I review several different ideas for explaining this cutoff.…
Estimates of the magnetic field of neutron stars in X-ray pulsars are obtained using the hypothesis of the equilibrium period for disk and wind accretion and also from the BATSE data on timing of X-ray pulsars using the observed maximum…
Spinning neutron stars, when observed as pulsars, are seen to undergo occasional spin-up events known as glitches. Despite several decades of study, the physical mechanisms responsible for glitches are still not well understood, but…
We compare the rotation rate of neutron stars in low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) with the orbital period of the binaries. We find that, while short orbital period LMXBs span a range of neutron star rotation rates, all the long period LMXBs…
Surface asymmetries of accreting neutron stars are investigated for their mass quadrupole moment content. Though the amplitude of the gravitational waves from such asymmetries seem to be beyond the limit of detectability of the present…