pith. sign in

arxiv: 1203.5971 · v1 · pith:XFT64L3Fnew · submitted 2012-03-27 · 🌌 astro-ph.SR

A second neutron star in M4?

classification 🌌 astro-ph.SR
keywords x-rayopticalstarfluxneutronvariableactiveargue
0
0 comments X
read the original abstract

We show that the optical counterpart of the X-ray source CX 1 in M4 is a 20th magnitude star, located in the color-magnitude diagram on (or very close to) the main sequence of the cluster, and exhibiting sinusoidal variations of the flux. We find the X-ray flux to be also periodically variable, with X-ray and optical minima coinciding. Stability of the optical light curve, lack of UV-excess, and unrealistic mean density resulting from period-density relation for semidetached systems, speak against the original identification of CX 1 as a cataclysmic variable. We argue that the X-ray active component of this system is a neutron star (probably a millisecond pulsar).

This paper has not been read by Pith yet.

discussion (0)

Sign in with ORCID, Apple, or X to comment. Anyone can read and Pith papers without signing in.