Light curves and polarization of accretion- and nuclear-powered millisecond pulsars
arXiv:astro-ph/0408250 · doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20041084
Abstract
We study theoretical X-ray light curves and polarization properties of accretion-powered millisecond pulsars. We assume that the radiation is produced in two antipodal spots at the neutron star surface which are associated with the magnetic poles. We compute the angle-dependent intensity and polarization produced in an electron-scattering dominated plane-parallel accretion shock in the frame of the shock. The observed flux, polarization degree and polarization angle are calculated accounting for special and general relativistic effects. The calculations also extended to the case of nuclear-powered millisecond pulsars -- X-ray bursts. In this case, we consider one spot and the radiation is assumed to be produced in the atmosphere of the infinite Thomson optical depth. The light curves and polarization profiles show a large diversity depending on the model parameters. Presented results can be used as a first step to understand the observed pulse profiles of accretion- and nuclear-powered millisecond pulsars. Future observations of the X-ray polarization will provide a valuable tool to test the geometry of the emission region and its physical characteristics.
arXiv comment14 pages, 11 figures, A&A, in press
References in corpus (19)
- Neutron Star Mass Measurements. I. Radio Pulsars
- Millisecond Oscillations in X-Ray Binaries
- Sonic-Point Model of Kilohertz Quasi-Periodic Brightness Oscillations in Low-Mass X-ray Binaries
- The Two-Phase Pair Corona Model for Active Galactic Nuclei and X-ray Binaries: How to Obtain Exact Solutions
- An efficient photoelectric X-ray Polarimeter for the study of Black Holes and Neutron Stars
- Gravitational Bending of Light Near Compact Objects
- On the Nature of the X-ray Emission from the Accreting Millisecond Pulsar SAX J1808.4-3658
- Is RX J185635-375 a Quark Star?
- Hard X-ray Emission From Low Mass X-ray Binaries
- Discovery of a Second Millisecond Accreting Pulsar: XTE J1751-305
- Discovery of a High-Latitude Accreting Millisecond Pulsar in an Ultracompact Binary
- Light Curves of Rapidly Rotating Neutron Stars
- Phase-resolved X-ray spectroscopy of the millisecond pulsar SAX J1808.4-3658
- Soft Phase Lags of Pulsed Emission from the Millisecond X-ray Pulsar SAX J1808.4-3658
- Oscillation Waveforms and Amplitudes from Hot Spots on Neutron Stars
- Oscillations During Thermonuclear X-ray Bursts
- A Puzzling Paucity of Double Peaked X-ray Pulsars
- Observations of millisecond X-ray pulsars
- Strange Quark Matter in Neutron Stars? - New Results from Chandra and XMM
Cited by in corpus (72)
- Measuring the neutron star equation of state using X-ray timing
- Thermonuclear burst oscillations
- Constraining the Neutron Star Mass-Radius Relation and Dense Matter Equation of State with NICER. II. Emission from Hot Spots on a Rapidly Rotating Neutron Star
- Pulse profiles of millisecond pulsars and their Fourier amplitudes
- The Nearest Millisecond Pulsar Revisited with XMM-Newton: Improved Mass-Radius Constraints for PSR J0437-4715
- X-ray emission from black-hole binaries
- Dense matter with eXTP
- XIPE: the X-ray Imaging Polarimetry Explorer
- INTEGRAL and RXTE observations of accreting millisecond pulsar IGR J00291+5934 in outburst
- Constraints on Neutron Star Properties from X-ray Observations of Millisecond Pulsars
- Accreting millisecond pulsar SAX J1808.4-3658 during its 2002 outburst: evidence for a receding disc
- Physics of accretion in the millisecond pulsar XTE J1751-305
- Superorbital variability of X-ray and radio emission of Cyg X-1 - II. Dependence of the orbital modulation and spectral hardness on the superorbital phase
- A model for the waveform behavior of accreting millisecond pulsars: Nearly aligned magnetic fields and moving emission regions
- Tomographic reflection modelling of quasi-periodic oscillations in the black hole binary H 1743-322
- The magnetic field strengths of accreting millisecond pulsars
- A unified Lense-Thirring precession model for optical and X-ray quasi-periodic oscillations in black hole binaries
- Accreting Millisecond X-Ray Pulsars
- Determining Neutron Star Properties by Fitting Oblate-Star Waveforms To X-ray Burst Oscillations
- Relativistic rotating vector model for X-ray millisecond pulsars
- Accretion geometry of the neutron star low mass X-ray binary Cyg X-2 from X-ray polarization measurements
- Accretion-powered millisecond pulsars
- Variability Profiles of Millisecond X-Ray Pulsars: Results of Pseudo-Newtonian 3D MHD Simulations
- Spectral and timing properties of the accreting X-ray millisecond pulsar IGR J17511-3057
- Modeling the X-rays from the Central Compact Object PSR J1852+0040 in Kesteven 79: Evidence for a Strongly Magnetized Neutron Star
- General purpose ray-tracing and polarized radiative transfer in General Relativity
- Black hole spin-orbit misalignment in the X-ray binary MAXI J1820+070
- Pulsar wind-heated accretion disk and the origin of modes in transitional millisecond pulsar PSR J1023+0038
- Bayesian parameter constraints for neutron star masses and radii using X-ray timing observations of accretion-powered millisecond pulsars
- Analytical techniques for polarimetric imaging of accretion flows in Schwarzschild metric
- An imperfect double: probing the physical origin of the low-frequency QPO and its harmonic in black hole binaries
- Spectral and timing properties of the accreting X-ray millisecond pulsar IGR J17498-2921
- On the nature of pulse profile variations and timing noise in accreting millisecond pulsars
- High-precision optical polarimetry of the accreting black hole V404 Cyg during the June 2015 outburst
- POLARIX: a pathfinder mission of X-ray polarimetry
- Varying disc-magnetosphere coupling as the origin of pulse profile variability in SAX J1808.4-3658
- X-Ray Polarized View on the Accretion Geometry in the X-Ray Binary Circinus X-1
- Dense Matter in Neutron Stars with eXTP
- X-ray polarization from accretion disk winds
- Evolving optical polarisation of the black hole X-ray binary MAXI J1820+070
- Oblate Schwarzschild approximation for polarized radiation from rapidly rotating neutron stars
- Prospects for Neutron Star Equation of State Constraints using "Recycled" Millisecond Pulsars
- Superorbital variability of X-ray and radio emission of Cyg X-1. I. Emission anisotropy of precessing sources
- The 2009 outburst of accreting millisecond pulsar IGR J17511-3057 as observed by SWIFT and RXTE
- Constraining compactness and magnetic field geometry of X-ray pulsars from the statistics of their pulse profiles
- Reprocessing model for the optical quasi-periodic oscillations in black hole binaries
- Polarized radiation from the spreading layer of the weakly magnetized neutron stars
- Neutron star parameter constraints for accretion-powered millisecond pulsars from the simulated IXPE data
- LAMP: a micro-satellite based soft X-ray polarimeter for astrophysics
- SRG/ART-XC discovery of SRGAJ144459.2-604207: a well-tempered bursting accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar
- Discovery of Polarized X-Ray Emission from the Accreting Millisecond Pulsar SRGA J144459.2-604207
- Theoretical aspects of relativistic spectral features
- Analytical expressions for pulse profile of neutron stars in plasma environments
- On the role of strong gravity in polarization from scattering of light in relativistic flows
- Pulse Profile Modeling of Thermonuclear Burst Oscillations I: The Effect of Neglecting Variability
- Polarized radiation from an accretion shock in accreting millisecond pulsars using exact Compton scattering formalism
- Instrumentation and Future Missions in the Upcoming Era of X-Ray Polarimetry
- Effects of scattering in the accretion funnel on the pulse profiles of accreting millisecond pulsars
- Electromagnetic signatures of strong-field gravity from accreting black holes
- Accurate analytical modeling of light rays in spherically symmetric spacetimes: Applications in the study of black hole accretion disks and polarimetry
- General-relativistic pulsar radio and high-energy emission
- Gamma-Ray Polarimetry
- Expected polarization properties of nonmagnetized CCOs
- Measuring energy dependent polarization in soft gamma-rays using Compton scattering in PoGOLite
- Modelling polarized X-ray pulses from accreting millisecond pulsars with X-PSI, using different hot spot locations and shapes
- X-ray polarimetry-timing
- Scaling relations for the uncertainty in neutron star radius inferred from pulse profile modelling: the effect of spin rate
- Parameter constraints for accreting millisecond pulsars with synthetic NICER data
- Pulse profile modelling of the accretion-powered millisecond pulsar SAX J1808.4-3658 using NICER data from its 2019 and 2022 outbursts
- Hard X-ray Polarimetry -- An overview of the method, science drivers and recent findings
- Fast and accurate analytical formulas for light propagation in general static, spherically symmetric spacetimes
- A Transmissive X-ray Polarimeter Design For Hard X-ray Focusing Telescopes