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arXiv · 2208.08450

Long-term photometric monitoring and spectroscopy of the white dwarf pulsar AR Scorpii

Ingrid Pelisoli·T. R. Marsh·S. G. Parsons·A. Aungwerojwit·R. P. Ashley·E. Breedt·A. J. Brown·V. S. Dhillon·M. J. Dyer·M. J. Green·P. Kerry·S. P. Littlefair·D. I. Sahman·T. Shahbaz·J. F. Wild·A. Chakpor·R. Lakhom
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Abstract

AR Scorpii (AR Sco) is the only radio-pulsing white dwarf known to date. It shows a broad-band spectrum extending from radio to X-rays whose luminosity cannot be explained by thermal emission from the system components alone, and is instead explained through synchrotron emission powered by the spin-down of the white dwarf. We analysed NTT/ULTRACAM, TNT/ULTRASPEC, and GTC/HiPERCAM high-speed photometric data for AR Sco spanning almost seven years and obtained a precise estimate of the spin frequency derivative, now confirmed with 50-sigma significance. Using archival photometry, we show that the spin down rate of P/Pdot = 5.6e6 years has remained constant since 2005. As well as employing the method of pulse-arrival time fitting used for previous estimates, we also found a consistent value via traditional Fourier analysis for the first time. In addition, we obtained optical time-resolved spectra with WHT/ISIS and VLT/X-shooter. We performed modulated Doppler tomography for the first time for the system, finding evidence of emission modulated on the orbital period. We have also estimated the projected rotational velocity of the M-dwarf as a function of orbital period and found that it must be close to Roche lobe filling. Our findings provide further constraints for modelling this unique system.

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Ingrid Pelisoli, T. R. Marsh, S. G. Parsons, A. Aungwerojwit, R. P. Ashley, E. Breedt, A. J. Brown, V. S. Dhillon, M. J. Dyer, M. J. Green, P. Kerry, S. P. Littlefair, D. I. Sahman, T. Shahbaz, J. F. Wild, A. Chakpor, R. Lakhom. 2022-08-17. Long-term photometric monitoring and spectroscopy of the white dwarf pulsar AR Scorpii. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras%2Fstac2391

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