Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Swings between rotation and accretion power in a binary millisecond pulsar

Abstract

It is thought that neutron stars in low-mass binary systems can accrete matter and angular momentum from the companion star and be spun-up to millisecond rotational periods1,2,3. During the accretion stage, the system is called a low-mass X-ray binary, and bright X-ray emission is observed. When the rate of mass transfer decreases in the later evolutionary stages, these binaries host a radio millisecond pulsar4,5 whose emission is powered by the neutron star’s rotating magnetic field6. This evolutionary model is supported by the detection of millisecond X-ray pulsations from several accreting neutron stars7,8 and also by the evidence for a past accretion disc in a rotation-powered millisecond pulsar9. It has been proposed that a rotation-powered pulsar may temporarily switch on10,11,12 during periods of low mass inflow13 in some such systems. Only indirect evidence for this transition has hitherto been observed14,15,16,17,18. Here we report observations of accretion-powered, millisecond X-ray pulsations from a neutron star previously seen as a rotation-powered radio pulsar. Within a few days after a month-long X-ray outburst, radio pulses were again detected. This not only shows the evolutionary link between accretion and rotation-powered millisecond pulsars, but also that some systems can swing between the two states on very short timescales.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Variability of the X-ray emission of IGR J18245–2452.
Figure 2: Spin and orbit of IGR J18245–2452.
Figure 3: Long-term X-ray variability of IGR J18245–2452.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Bisnovatyi-Kogan, G. S. & Komberg, B. V. Pulsars and close binary systems. Sov. Astron. 18, 217–221 (1974)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Alpar, M. A., Cheng, A. F., Ruderman, M. A. & Shaham, J. A new class of radio pulsars. Nature 300, 728–730 (1982)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Radhakrishnan, V. & Srinivasan, G. On the origin of the recently discovered ultra-rapid pulsar. Curr. Sci. India 51, 1096–1099 (1982)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Backer, D. C., Kulkarni, S. R., Heiles, C., Davis, M. M. & Goss, W. M. A millisecond pulsar. Nature 300, 615–618 (1982)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Ruderman, M., Shaham, J. & Tavani, M. Accretion turnoff and rapid evaporation of very light secondaries in low-mass X-ray binaries. Astrophys. J. 336, 507–518 (1989)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Pacini, F. Energy emission from a neutron star. Nature 216, 567–568 (1967)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Wijnands, R. & van der Klis, M. A millisecond pulsar in an X-ray binary system. Nature 394, 344–346 (1998)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Chakrabarty, D. & Morgan, E. H. The two-hour orbit of a binary millisecond X-ray pulsar. Nature 394, 346–348 (1998)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Archibald, A. M. et al. A radio pulsar/X-ray binary link. Science 324, 1411–1414 (2009)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. Stella, L., Campana, S., Colpi, M., Mereghetti, S. & Tavani, M. Do quiescent soft X-ray transients contain millisecond radio pulsars? Astrophys. J. 423, L47–L50 (1994)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Campana, S., Colpi, M., Mereghetti, S., Stella, L. & Tavani, M. The neutron stars of soft X-ray transients. Astron. Astrophys. Rev. 8, 279–316 (1998)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. Burderi, L. et al. Where may ultrafast rotating neutron stars be hidden? Astrophys. J. 560, L71–L74 (2001)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. van Paradijs, J. On the accretion instability in soft X-ray transients. Astrophys. J. 464, L139–L141 (1996)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  14. Burderi, L., Di Salvo, T., D’Antona, F., Robba, N. R. & Testa, V. The optical counterpart to SAX J1808.4–3658 in quiescence: evidence of an active radio pulsar? Astron. Astrophys. 404, L43–L46 (2003)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. Hartman, J. M. et al. The long-term evolution of the spin, pulse shape, and orbit of the accretion-powered millisecond pulsar SAX J1808.4–3658. Astrophys. J. 675, 1468–1486 (2008)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  16. Di Salvo, T., Burderi, L., Riggio, A., Papitto, A. & Menna, M. T. Orbital evolution of an accreting millisecond pulsar: witnessing the banquet of a hidden black widow? Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 389, 1851–1857 (2008)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. Patruno, A. The accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar IGR J00291+5934: evidence for a long timescale spin evolution. Astrophys. J. 722, 909–918 (2010)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  18. Papitto, A. et al. Spin down during quiescence of the fastest known accretion-powered pulsar. Astron. Astrophys. 528, A55 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Lewin, W. H. G., van Paradijs, J. & Taam, R. E. X-Ray bursts. Space Sci. Rev. 62, 223–389 (1993)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. Bégin, S. A Search for Fast Pulsars in Globular Clusters. MSc thesis, Faculty of Graduate Studies (Physics), Univ. British Columbia. (2006)

  21. Manchester, R. N., Hobbs, G. B., Teoh, A. & Hobbs, M. The Australia Telescope National Facility Pulsar Catalogue. Astron. J. 129, 1993–2006 (2005)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  22. Bogdanov, S. et al. Chandra X-ray observations of 12 millisecond pulsars in the globular cluster M28. Astrophys. J. 730, 81 (2011)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  23. Papitto, A. et al. XMM-Newton detects a relativistically broadened iron line in the spectrum of the ms X-ray pulsar SAX J1808.4–3658. Astron. Astrophys. 493, L39–L43 (2009)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  24. Chakrabarty, D. et al. Nuclear-powered millisecond pulsars and the maximum spin frequency of neutron stars. Nature 424, 42–44 (2003)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  25. Gaensler, B. M., Stappers, B. W. & Getts, T. J. Transient radio emission from SAX J1808.4–3658. Astrophys. J. 522, L117–L119 (1999)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  26. Bhattacharya, D. & van den Heuvel, E. P. J. Formation and evolution of binary and millisecond radio pulsars. Phys. Rep. 203, 1–124 (1991)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  27. Burgay, M. et al. A search for pulsars in quiescent soft X-ray transients. I. Astrophys. J. 589, 902–910 (2003)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  28. Fruchter, A. S., Stinebring, D. R. & Taylor, J. H. A millisecond pulsar in an eclipsing binary. Nature 333, 237–239 (1988)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  29. Leahy, D. A., Elsner, R. F. & Weisskopf, M. C. On searches for periodic pulsed emission—the Rayleigh test compared to epoch folding. Astrophys. J. 272, 256–258 (1983)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  30. Harris, W. E. A catalog of parameters for globular clusters in the Milky Way. Astron. J. 112, 1487–1488 (1996)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This letter is based on ToO observations made with XMM-Newton, Chandra, INTEGRAL, Swift, ATCA, WSRT, GBT and PKS. We thank the respective directors and operation teams for their support. Work was done in the framework of grants AYA2012-39303, SGR2009-811 and iLINK2011-0303, and with the support of CEA/Irfu, IN2P3/CNRS and CNES (France), INAF (Italy), NWO (The Netherlands) and NSERC (Canada). A.Pa. is supported by a Juan de la Cierva Research Fellowship. A.R. acknowledges Sardinia Regional Government for financial support (P.O.R. Sardegna ESF 2007-13). D.F.T. was additionally supported by a Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. L.P. thanks the Société Académique de Genève and the Swiss Society for Astrophysics and Astronomy. We acknowledge the use of data supplied by the UK Swift Science Data Centre at the University of Leicester. A.Pa. thanks S. Giannetti, D. Lai, R. V. E. Lovelace, M. M. Romanova and T. Tauris for discussions, and S. D. Wolf for operational support.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

A.Pa., C.F. and E.B. collected and analysed XMM-Newton data. A.Pa. and C.F. detected the pulsar in XMM-Newton data and derived its orbital solution. A.Pa. discovered the equivalence of its parameters with a radio pulsar, the thermonuclear burst and the burst oscillations. N.R. analysed Chandra data, detecting the X-ray quiescent counterpart of the source and past accretion events. L.P., M.H.W., M.D.F. and G.F.W. analysed ATCA data. E.B., S.C., P.R., A.Pa. and A.R. analysed Swift data. E.B. and C.F. analysed INTEGRAL data. J.W.T.H. analysed WSRT data. M.B. and J.M.S. analysed PKS data. J.W.T.H., S.M.R., A.Po., I.H.S. and P.C.C.F. analysed GBT data. A.R. provided software tools. A.Pa., N.R. and J.W.T.H. wrote the manuscript, with significant contribution by all the authors in interpreting the results and editing of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. Papitto.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

This file contains Supplementary Figures 1-6, Supplementary Text and Data 1-8, Supplementary Tables 1-3 and additional references. (PDF 663 kb)

PowerPoint slides

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Papitto, A., Ferrigno, C., Bozzo, E. et al. Swings between rotation and accretion power in a binary millisecond pulsar. Nature 501, 517–520 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12470

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12470

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing