| Autor: |
Joseph O’Leary, Andrew Melatos, Tom Kimpson, Nicholas J. O’Neill, Patrick M. Meyers, Dimitris M. Christodoulou, Sayantan Bhattacharya, Silas G. T. Laycock |
| Jazyk: |
angličtina |
| Rok vydání: |
2024 |
| Předmět: |
|
| Zdroj: |
The Astrophysical Journal, Vol 971, Iss 2, p 126 (2024) |
| Druh dokumentu: |
article |
| ISSN: |
1538-4357 |
| DOI: |
10.3847/1538-4357/ad53c2 |
| Popis: |
Many accretion-powered pulsars rotate in magnetocentrifugal disequilibrium, spinning up or down secularly over multiyear intervals. The magnetic dipole moment μ of such systems cannot be inferred uniquely from the time-averaged aperiodic X-ray flux 〈 L ( t )〉 and pulse period 〈 P ( t )〉, because the radiative efficiency of the accretion is unknown and degenerate with the mass accretion rate. Here, we circumvent the degeneracy by tracking the fluctuations in the unaveraged time series L ( t ) and P ( t ) using an unscented Kalman filter, whereupon μ can be estimated uniquely, up to the uncertainties in the mass, radius, and distance of the star. The analysis is performed on Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer observations for 24 X-ray transients in the Small Magellanic Cloud, which have been monitored regularly for ∼16 yr. As well as independent estimates of μ , the analysis yields time-resolved histories of the mass accretion rate and the Maxwell stress at the disk–magnetosphere boundary for each star, and hence auto- and cross-correlations involving the latter two state variables. The inferred fluctuation statistics convey important information about the complex accretion physics at the disk–magnetosphere boundary. |
| Databáze: |
Directory of Open Access Journals |
| Externí odkaz: |
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