Related papers: Optical pulsations from a transitional millisecond…
Measuring the spin of Accreting Neutron Stars is important because it can provide constraints on the Equation of State of ultra-dense matter. Particularly crucial to our physical understanding is the discovery of sub-millisecond pulsars,…
Millisecond pulsars are rapidly rotating neutron stars where general relativity plays a strong role in the propagation of light from the neutron star to observer. The observed X-ray pulse shapes carry information on the mass, radius and…
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…
Transitional millisecond pulsars (tMSPs) bridge the evolutionary gap between accreting neutron stars in low-mass X-ray binaries and millisecond radio pulsars. These systems exhibit a unique subluminous X-ray state characterized by the…
Millisecond pulsars, old neutron stars spun-up by accreting matter from a companion star, can reach high rotation rates of hundreds of revolutions per second. Until now, all such "recycled" rotation-powered pulsars have been detected by…
Transitional millisecond pulsars are systems that alternate between an accreting low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) state, and a non-accreting radio pulsar state. When at the LMXB state, their X-ray and optical light curves show rapid flares and…
The first millisecond X-ray variability phenomena from accreting compact objects have recently been discovered with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. Three new phenomena are observed from low-mass X-ray binaries containing low-magnetic-field…
Anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs) are slowly rotating neutron stars with very bright and highly variable X-ray emission that are believed to be powered by ultra-strong magnetic fields of >1e14 G, according to the 'magnetar' model. The radio…
Two classes of X-ray/$\gamma$-ray sources, the Soft Gamma Repeaters and the Anomalous X-ray Pulsars have been identified with isolated, slowly spinning magnetars, neutron stars whose emission draws energy from their extremely strong…
We have identified the third known accretion-powered millisecond pulsar, XTE J0929-314, with the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer. The source is a faint, high-Galactic-latitude X-ray transient (d >~ 5 kpc) that was in outburst during 2002…
The X-ray and gamma-ray spectrum of rotation-powered millisecond pulsars is investigated in a model for acceleration and pair cascades on open field lines above the polar caps. Although these pulsars have low surface magnetic fields, their…
The nature of the 5-12 s "anomalous" X-ray pulsars remains a mystery. Among the models that have been proposed to explain the properties of AXPs, the most likely ones are: (1) isolated accreting neutron stars evolved from the…
We consider a simple scenario for the accretion of matter onto a neutron star in order to understand processes in the inner pulsar magnetosphere during the transition stage between different accretion modes. A simple quasi-spherical…
Three high-mass X-ray binaries have been discovered recently exhibiting enormous spinup rates. Conventional accretion theory predicts extremely high surface dipolar magnetic fields that we believe are unphysical. Instead, we propose quite…
Previously, observations with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer showed that millisecond oscillations occur preferentially in thermonuclear X-ray bursts with photospheric radius expansion from sources rotating near 600 Hz, while they occur…
Millisecond pulsars (MSPs) are thought to born in low-mass X-ray binaries when the neutron star has gained enough angular momentum from the accreting materials of its companion star. It is generally believed that a radio MSP is born when…
The recent discovery of the first known accretion-powered millisecond pulsar with the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer provides the first direct probe of the interaction of an accretion disk with the magnetic field of a weakly magnetic (B<10^10…
It is believed that millisecond pulsars attain their fast spins by accreting matter and angular momentum from companion stars. Theoretical modelling of the accretion process suggests a spin-up line in the period-period derivative…
The formation of a $2.7\ \rm M_{\odot}$ supermassive neutron star is explored, as the possible companion of PSR J0514--4002E. Magnetars may experience super-Eddington accretion. Observationally they may manifest themselves as ultraluminous…
Neutron stars are thought to be born rapidly rotating and then exhibit a phase of a rotation-powered pulsations as they slow down to 1-10 s periods. The significant population of millisecond pulsars observed in our Galaxy is explained by…