Multiwavelength evidence for a new flare-mode transitional millisecond pulsar
| Autor: | Arash Bahramian, Adam Kawash, Ryan Urquhart, Andrej Udalski, Kirill Sokolovsky, Evangelia Tremou, Jay Strader, Samuel J. Swihart, Laura Chomiuk, Elias Aydi |
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| Přispěvatelé: | Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique (LESIA (UMR_8109)), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) |
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
Physics Field (physics) 010308 nuclear & particles physics Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena Mode (statistics) FOS: Physical sciences Flux Binary number Astronomy and Astrophysics Astrophysics 01 natural sciences law.invention Space and Planetary Science law Millisecond pulsar 0103 physical sciences Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena [PHYS.ASTR]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph] 010303 astronomy & astrophysics Phenomenology (particle physics) Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics Flare Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope |
| Popis: | We report the discovery of a new low-mass X-ray binary near the center of the unassociated Fermi GeV gamma-ray source 4FGL J0540.0-7552. The source shows the persistent presence of an optical accretion disk and exhibits extreme X-ray and optical variability. It also has an X-ray spectrum well-fit by a hard power law with a Gamma = 1.8 and a high ratio of X-ray to gamma-ray flux. Together, these properties are consistent with the classification of the binary as a transitional millisecond pulsar (tMSP) in the sub-luminous disk state. Uniquely among the candidate tMSPs, 4FGL J0540.0-7552 shows consistent optical, X-ray, and gamma-ray evidence for having undergone a state change, becoming substantially brighter in the optical and X-rays and fainter in GeV gamma-rays sometime in mid-2013. In its current sub-luminous disk state, and like one other candidate tMSP in the Galactic field, 4FGL J0540.0-7552 appears to always be in an X-ray "flare mode", indicating that this could be common phenomenology for tMSPs. ApJ in press |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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