Cosmic recycling of millisecond pulsars
Cosmic recycling of millisecond pulsars
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 have fast rotators. We also find that the rotation rates are highest for the systems with the highest mean mass accretion rates, as can be expected if the accretion rate correlates with the orbital period. We show that these properties can be understood by a balance between spin-up due to accretion and spin-down due to gravitational radiation. Our scenario indicates that the gravitational radiation emitted by these systems may be detectable by future ground-based gravitational wave detectors
L36-[5pp]
Ho, Wynn C.G.
d78d4c52-8f92-4846-876f-e04a8f803a45
Maccarone, Thomas J.
27e6101c-8fa4-41db-ba75-d2ee3d1a0c53
Andersson, Nils
2dd6d1ee-cefd-478a-b1ac-e6feedafe304
14 March 2011
Ho, Wynn C.G.
d78d4c52-8f92-4846-876f-e04a8f803a45
Maccarone, Thomas J.
27e6101c-8fa4-41db-ba75-d2ee3d1a0c53
Andersson, Nils
2dd6d1ee-cefd-478a-b1ac-e6feedafe304
Ho, Wynn C.G., Maccarone, Thomas J. and Andersson, Nils
(2011)
Cosmic recycling of millisecond pulsars.
The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 730 (2), .
(doi:10.1088/2041-8205/730/2/L36).
Abstract
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 have fast rotators. We also find that the rotation rates are highest for the systems with the highest mean mass accretion rates, as can be expected if the accretion rate correlates with the orbital period. We show that these properties can be understood by a balance between spin-up due to accretion and spin-down due to gravitational radiation. Our scenario indicates that the gravitational radiation emitted by these systems may be detectable by future ground-based gravitational wave detectors
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2041-8205_730_2_L36.pdf
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Published date: 14 March 2011
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Local EPrints ID: 177063
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/177063
ISSN: 2041-8205
PURE UUID: 1c24cecf-73ad-4937-8dd8-9c4214f9baa3
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Date deposited: 15 Mar 2011 09:54
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 02:59
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Author:
Thomas J. Maccarone
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