High-Energy Variability of PSR J1311-3430

Abstract

We have studied the variability of the black-widow type binary millisecond pulsar PSR J1311$-$3430 from optical to gamma-ray energies. We confirm evidence for orbital modulation in the weak off-pulse $\ge$200-MeV emission, with a peak at ${\varphi }_B\approx 0.8$, following pulsar inferior conjunction. The peak has a relatively hard spectrum, extending above $\sim 1$\,GeV. XMM-Newton and Swift UV observations also show that this source's strong X-ray flaring activity is associated with optical/UV flares. With a duty cycle $\sim 7-19$%, this flaring is quite prominent with an apparent power-law intensity distribution. Flares are present at all orbital phases, with a slight preference for ${\varphi }_B=0.5-0.7$. We explore possible connections of these variabilities with the intrabinary shock and magnetic activity on the low mass secondary.

10 pages, 3 tables, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ

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• Gamma-ray Eclipses and Orbital Modulation Transitions in the Candidate Redback 4FGL J1702.7-5655
• The Intrabinary Shock and Companion Star of Redback Pulsar J2215+5135
• Revealing a New Black Widow Binary 4FGL J0336.0+7502
• Optical Light Curve of 4FGL J0935.3+0901: A Flaring Black Widow Candidate
• Luminous Optical and X-ray Flaring of the Putative Redback Millisecond Pulsar 1FGL J0523.5$-$2529
• High Energy Emission from the Intrabinary Shocks in Redback Pulsars
• Gamma-ray orbital modulation of the transitioning millisecond pulsar binary XSS J12270-4859
• A puzzling 2-hour X-ray periodicity in the 1.5-hour orbital period black widow PSR J1311-3430
• Improving the low-energy transient sensitivity of AMEGO-X using single-site events