Precise optical timing of PSR J1023+0038, the first millisecond pulsar detected with Aqueye+ in Asiago

Abstract

We report the first detection of an optical millisecond pulsar with the fast photon counter Aqueye+ in Asiago. This is an independent confirmation of the detection of millisecond pulsations from PSR J1023+0038 obtained with SiFAP at the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo. We observed the transitional millisecond pulsar PSR J1023+0038 with Aqueye+ mounted at the Copernicus telescope in January 2018. Highly significant pulsations were detected. The rotational period is in agreement with the value extrapolated from the X-ray ephemeris, while the time of passage at the ascending node is shifted by $11.55\pm 0.08$ s from the value predicted using the orbital period from the X-rays. An independent optical timing solution is derived over a baseline of a few days, that has an accuracy of $\sim 0.007$ in pulse phase ($\sim 12$ $\mu$s in time). This level of precision is needed to derive an accurate coherent timing solution for the pulsar and to search for possible phase shifts between the optical and X-ray pulses using future simultaneous X-ray and optical observations.

arXiv comment6 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Letters

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• Observations of the Ultra-compact X-ray Binary 4U 1543-624 in Outburst with NICER, INTEGRAL, Swift, and ATCA
• Spin-down rate of the transitional millisecond pulsar PSR J1023+0038 in the optical band with Aqueye+
• New technique for determining a pulsar period: Waterfall principal component analysis
• Development of an optical photon-counting imager with a monolithic Geiger APD array
• Multiwavelength Evidence for Two New Candidate Transitional Millisecond Pulsars in the Sub-luminous Disk State: 4FGL J0639.1--8009 and 4FGL J1824.2+1231
• X-ray study of high-and-low luminosity modes and peculiar low-soft-and-hard activity in the transitional pulsar XSS J12270-4859
• Optical photon-counting observation of the Crab pulsar with Kanata telescope using prototype IMONY
• Characterization of a high efficiency silicon photomultiplier for millisecond to sub-microsecond astrophysical transient searches
• Measuring accretion disc properties in the transitional millisecond pulsar PSR J1023+0038 using XMM-Newton, NuSTAR, NICER and Chandra
• False Alarm Rate based Statistical Detection Limit for Astronomical Photon Detectors
• Evidence for optical pulsations from a redback millisecond pulsar
• There and back again: Mysterious optical pulse profile behavior of the transitional millisecond pulsar PSR J1023+0038