Observational Evidence for a Spin-up Line in the P– Ṗ Diagram of Millisecond Pulsars

It is believed that millisecond pulsars attain their fast spins by accreting matter and angular momentum from companion stars. Theoretical modeling of the accretion process suggests a spin-up line in the period–period derivative ( P - P ̇ ) diagram of millisecond pulsars, which plays an important ro...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Astrophysical journal. Letters 2022-07, Vol.934 (1), p.L2
Main Authors: Liu, Xiao-Jin, You, Zhi-Qiang, Zhu, Xing-Jiang
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accretion disks
Angular momentum
Bayesian analysis
Binary stars
Companion stars
Magnetospheres
Millisecond pulsars
Neutron stars
Observational studies
Population studies
Pulsars
Statistical inference
Stellar accretion
X ray binaries
X ray stars
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Summary:It is believed that millisecond pulsars attain their fast spins by accreting matter and angular momentum from companion stars. Theoretical modeling of the accretion process suggests a spin-up line in the period–period derivative ( P - P ̇ ) diagram of millisecond pulsars, which plays an important role in population studies of radio millisecond pulsars and accreting neutron stars in X-ray binaries. Here we present observational evidence for such a spin-up line using a sample of 143 radio pulsars with P < 30 ms. We also find that PSRs J1823−3021A and J1824−2452A, located near the classic spin-up line, are consistent with the broad population of millisecond pulsars. Finally, we show that our approach of Bayesian inference can probe accretion physics, allowing constraints to be placed on the accretion rate and the disk–magnetosphere interaction.
ISSN:2041-8205
2041-8213
DOI:10.3847/2041-8213/ac7eb6