Lighthouses with two lights: burst oscillations from the accretion-powered millisecond pulsars

Anna L. Watts

doi:10.1063/1.3031193

Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 0808.2536

Lighthouses with two lights: burst oscillations from the accretion-powered millisecond pulsars

Anna L. Watts

View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

The key contribution of the discovery of nuclear-powered pulsations from the accretion-powered millisecond pulsars (AMPs) has been the establishment of burst oscillation frequency as a reliable proxy for stellar spin rate. This has doubled the sample of rapidly-rotating accreting neutron stars and revealed the unexpected absence of any stars rotating near the break-up limit. The resulting `braking problem' is now a major concern for theorists, particularly given the possible role of gravitational wave emission in limiting spin. This, however, is not the only area where burst oscillations from the AMPs are having an impact. Burst oscillation timing is developing into a promising technique for verifying the level of spin variability in the AMPs (a topic of considerable debate). These sources also provide unique input to our efforts to understand the still-elusive burst oscillation mechanism. This is because they are the only stars where we can reliably gauge the role of uneven fuel deposition and, of course, the magnetic field.

Explore related subjects

astro-ph

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeX RIS

Anna L. Watts. 2008-08-19. Lighthouses with two lights: burst oscillations from the accretion-powered millisecond pulsars. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3031193

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2020

Cosmic Variance and Its Effect on the Luminosity Function Determination in Deep High z Surveys

We study cosmic variance in deep high redshift surveys and its influence on the determination of the luminosity function for high redshift galaxies. For several survey geometries relevant for HST and JWST instruments, we characterize the distribution of the galaxy number counts. This is obtained by means of analytic estimates via the two point correlation function in extended Press-Schechter theory as well as by using synthetic catalogs extracted from N-body cosmological simulations of structure formation. We adopt a simple luminosity - dark halo mass relation to investigate the environment effects on the fitting of the luminosity function. We show that in addition to variations of the normalization of the luminosity function, a steepening of its slope is also expected in underdense fields, similarly to what is observed within voids in the local universe. Therefore, to avoid introducing artificial biases, caution must be taken when attempting to correct for field underdensity, such as in the case of HST UDF i-dropout sample, which exhibits a deficit of bright counts with respect to the average counts in GOODS. A public version of the cosmic variance calculator based on the two point correlation function integration is made available on the web.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2020

Receiver control for the Submillimeter Array

Efficient operation of a submillimeter interferometer requires remote (preferably automated) control of mechanically tuned local oscillators, phase-lock loops, mixers, optics, calibration vanes and cryostats. The present control system for these aspects of the Submillimeter Array (SMA) will be described. Distributed processing forms the underlying architecture and the software is split between hardware platforms in a leader/follower arrangement. In each antenna cabin, a serial network of up to ten independent 80C196 microcontroller boards attaches to the real-time PowerPC computer (running LynxOS). A multi-threaded, gcc-compiled leader program on the PowerPC accepts top-level requests via remote procedure calls (RPC), subsequently dispatches tuning commands to the relevant follower microcontrollers, and regularly reports the system status to optical-fiber-based reflective memory for common access by the telescope monitor and error reporting system. All serial communication occurs asynchronously via encoded, variable-length packets. The microcontrollers respond to the requested commands and queries by accessing non-volatile, rewriteable lookup-tables (when appropriate) and executing embedded software that operates additional electronic devices (DACs, ADCs, etc.). Since various receiver hardware components require linear or rotary motion, each microcontroller also implements a position servo via a one-millisecond interrupt service routine which drives a DC-motor/encoder combination that remains standard across each subsystem.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2019

Classical analysis of the rotational dynamic of spiral galaxies: Quo Vadis Dark Matter?

In this paper we study a stellar dynamic model for the stars' rotational-dynamics, with a distribution of its own mass, rotating around its center with a higher density, like spiral galaxies happen, by means of a classical calculus of the rotation velocities of a particle around its rotational axis, inside a smoothed distribution of matter. The stars are supposed to be particles and their distribution in the galaxy is modelled as a matter distribution inversely proportional to its distance from its center. Two kinds of matter distribution are supposed: one with constant density, and other with radial distribution. Two types of galaxy symmetry are also considered: spherical and oblate ellipsoidal. Using only classical mechanics arguments it is shown that the calculated velocity distribution inside the galaxy is similar to that obtained from astronomical observations, without the necessity of suppose the existence of dark matter or other phenomena.

astro-ph↗