Optical Photometry and Spectroscopy of the Accretion-Powered Millisecond Pulsar HETE J1900.1-2455

Abstract

We present phase resolved optical photometry and spectroscopy of the accreting millisecond pulsar HETE J1900.1-2455. Our R-band light curves exhibit a sinusoidal modulation, at close to the orbital period, which we initially attributed to X-ray heating of the irradiated face of the secondary star. However, further analysis reveals that the source of the modulation is more likely due to superhumps caused by a precessing accretion disc. Doppler tomography of a broad Halpha emission line reveals an emission ring, consistent with that expected from an accretion disc. Using the velocity of the emission ring as an estimate for the projected outer disc velocity, we constrain the maximum projected velocity of the secondary to be 200 km/s, placing a lower limit of 0.05 Msun on the secondary mass. For a 1.4 Msun primary, this implies that the orbital inclination is low, < 20 degrees. Utilizing the observed relationship between the secondary mass and orbital period in short period cataclysmic variables, we estimate the secondary mass to be ~0.085 Msun, which implies an upper limit of ~2.4 Msun for the primary mass.

arXiv comment8 pages, 6 figures; Accepted for publication in MNRAS. Minor revisions to match final published version

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Cited by in corpus (12)

• Study of measured pulsar masses and their possible conclusions
• Optical spectroscopy and photometry of SAX J1808.4-3658 in outburst
• Accreting Millisecond X-Ray Pulsars
• The accretion flow to the intermittent accreting ms pulsar, HETE J1900.1-2455, as observed by XMM-Newton and RXTE
• Accreting pulsars: mixing-up accretion phases in transitional systems
• Detection of burning ashes from thermonuclear X-ray bursts
• The Double-Peaked 2008 Outburst of the Accreting Milli-Second X-ray Pulsar, IGR J00291+5934
• UltraCompCAT: a comprehensive Catalogue of Ultra-Compact and Short Orbital Period X-ray Binaries
• Ultra-compact X-ray binaries as dual-line gravitational-wave sources
• An anti-correlation between X-ray luminosity and H-alpha equivalent width in X-ray binaries
• An Accurate Determination of the Optical Periodic Modulation in the X-Ray Binary SAX J1808.4-3658
• Constraining the properties of dense neutron star cores: The case of the low-mass X-ray binary HETE J1900.1-2455