Discovery of a 205.89 Hz accreting-millisecond X-ray pulsar in the globular cluster NGC 6440

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of a new accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar in NGC 6440 with unique properties, including the shortest outburst recurrence time, providing insights into neutron star and binary evolution.

Contribution

The discovery of the second AMXP in NGC 6440 with detailed orbital parameters and evidence for a potentially larger population of undetected AMXPs.

Findings

Pulsation frequency of 205.89 Hz detected.

Orbital period of 57.3 minutes established.

Shortest outburst recurrence time among AMXPs (~1 month).

Abstract

We report the discovery of the second accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar (AMXP) in the globular cluster NGC 6440. Pulsations with a frequency of 205.89 Hz were detected with the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer on August 30th, October 1st and October 28th, 2009, during the decays of ~4 day outbursts of a newly X-ray transient source in NGC 6440. By studying the Doppler shift of the pulsation frequency, we find that the system is an ultra-compact binary with an orbital period of 57.3 minutes and a projected semi-major axis of 6.22 light-milliseconds. Based on the mass function, we estimate a lower limit to the mass of the companion to be 0.0067 M_sun (assuming a 1.4 M_sun neutron star). This new pulsar shows the shortest outburst recurrence time among AMXPs (~1 month). If this behavior does not cease, this AMXP has the potential to be one of the best sources in which to study how the binary system and the neutron star spin evolve. Furthermore, the characteristics of this new source indicate that there might exist a population of AMXPs undergoing weak outbursts which are undetected by current all-sky X-ray monitors. NGC 6440 is the only globular cluster to host two known AMXPs, while no AMXPs have been detected in any other globular cluster.