The steady spin-down rate of 4U 1907+09

Download
2001-11-11
Baykal, Altan
Alpar, MA
Zand, JI
Strohmayer, T
Using X-ray data from the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer, we report the pulse timing results of the accretion-powered, high-mass X-ray binary pulsar 4U 1907 + 09, covering a time-span of almost two years. We measured three new pulse periods in addition to the previously measured four pulse periods. We are able to connect pulse arrival times in phase for more than a year. The source has been spinning down almost at a constant rate, with a spin-down rate of (nu) over dot = (- 3.54 +/- 0.02) x 10(-14) Hz s(-1) for more than 15 yr. Residuals of pulse arrival times yield a very low level of random-walk noise, with a strength of similar to2 x 10(-20) rad(2) s(-3) on a time-scale of 383 d, which is 40 times lower than that of the high-mass X-ray binary pulsar Vela X-1. The noise strength is only a factor of 5 greater than that of the low-mass X-ray binary pulsar 4U 1626-67. The low level of the timing noise and the very stable spin-down rate of 4U 1907+09 make this source unique among the high-mass X-ray binary pulsars, providing another example, in addition to 4U 1626-67, of long-term quiet spin down from an accreting source. These examples show that the extended quiet spin-down episodes observed in the anomalous X-ray pulsars 1RXS J170849.0-400910 and IE 2259+586 do not necessarily imply that these sources are not accreting pulsars.
MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY

Suggestions

Short-term pulse frequency fluctuations of OAO 1657-415 from RXTE observations
Baykal, Altan (2000-04-11)
We present new X-ray observations of the high-mass X-ray binary (HMXRB) pulsar OAO 1657-415, obtained during one orbital period (10.44 d) with the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE). Using the binary orbital parameters, obtained from Burst and Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) observations, we resolve the fluctuations in the pulse frequency at time-scales on the order of 1 d for the first time. Recent BATSE results by Baykal showed that OAO 1657-415 has spin-up/down trends in its pulse frequency time seri...
Spin-down rate of 1E 2259+586 from RXTE observation
Baykal, Altan; Strohmayer, T; Stark, MJ (1998-08-01)
We present new X-ray observations of the X-ray pulsar 1E 2259+586, obtained during March 1997, with the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE). We have measured the pulse frequency derivative (nu) over dot = (-1.08 +/- 0.04) x 10(-14) Hz s(-1) from pulse arrival times obtained in a sequence of 5 observations spread over one month. This (nu) over dot is consistent with the long term spin-down trend. We also found that the observed X-ray luminosity is consistent with that measured at quiescent X-ray flux levels b...
Discovery of the orbit of the transient X-ray pulsar SAX J2103.5+4545
Baykal, Altan; Swank, J (IOP Publishing, 2000-12-01)
Using X-ray data from the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE), we carried out a pulse-timing analysis of the transient X-ray pulsar SAX J2103.5+4545. An outburst was detected by the All-Sky Monitor (ASM) in 1999 October 25 and reached a peak X-ray brightness of 27 mcrab on October 28. Between November 19 and December 27, the RXTE Proportional Counter Array (PCA) carried out pointed observations that provided us with pulse arrival times. These yield an eccentric orbit (e = 0.4 +/- 0.2) with an orbital period ...
Timing studies on RXTE observations of SAX J2103.5+4545
Baykal, Altan; Stark, M. J.; Heffner, C. M.; Erkoca, A. E.; Swank, J. H. (2007-01-21)
SAX J2103.5+4545 has been continuously monitored for similar to 900 d by the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) since its outburst in 2002 July. Using these observations and previous archival RXTE observations of SAX J2103.5+4545, we refined the binary orbital parameters and find the new orbital period as P = (12.665 36 +/- 0.000 88) d and the eccentricity as 0.4055 +/- 0.0032. With these new orbital parameters, we constructed the pulse frequency and pulse frequency derivative histories of the pulsar and co...
Recent X-ray measurements of the accretion-powered pulsar 4U 1907+09
in't Zand, JJM; Baykal, Altan; Strohmayer, TE (IOP Publishing, 1998-03-20)
X-ray observations of the accreting X-ray pulsar 4U 1907 + 09 obtained during 1996 February with the Proportional Counter Array onboard the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) have made possible the first measurement of the intrinsic pulse period (P-pulse) since 1984: P-pulse = 440.341(-0.017)(+0.012) s. 4U pulse 1907 + 09 is in a binary system with a blue supergiant. The orbital parameters have been solved, which enables us to correct a measurement of P-pulse obtained in 1990 with Ginga for orbital delay ef...
Citation Formats
A. Baykal, M. Alpar, J. Zand, and T. Strohmayer, “The steady spin-down rate of 4U 1907+09,” MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, pp. 1269–1272, 2001, Accessed: 00, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://hdl.handle.net/11511/37120.