1. X-ray studies of three binary millisecond pulsars.
- Author
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Webb, N. A., Olive, J.-F., and Barret, D.
- Subjects
- *
PULSARS , *X-ray binaries , *LIGHT curves , *SPECTRUM analysis , *STELLAR oscillations , *MAGNETIC fields - Abstract
It is thought that millisecond pulsars with white dwarf companions are born from X-ray binaries. The majority of known systems have been studied uniquely in the radio domain, which limits our understanding of such systems. We present here the X-ray observations of the millisecond pulsar PSR J0218+4232 and the two faint millisecond pulsars PSR J0751+1807 and PSR J1012+5307, which we discuss in conjunction with radio observations. We confirm the previously detected X-ray pulsations of PSR J0218+4232 and we show that its folded lightcurve is strongly dependent on energy. We present evidence to suggest that the broad band X-ray spectrum for this pulsar may not be a simple power law, but that there is some evidence for an excess of soft thermal emission over the power law spectrum, in particular from the strongest pulse, in support of a heated polar cap model for this pulsar. We also present the X-ray spectra of the two faint millisecond pulsars as well as some evidence to suggest that both of these millisecond pulsars show pulsations in the X-ray band. We then discuss the implied nature of the magnetic field configuration as a means of discriminating between competing magnetic field evolution theories in millisecond pulsars. © 2005 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2005
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