Relativistic disc line: a tool to constrain neutron star equation of state models

Relativistic iron K$\alpha$ spectral emission line from the inner disc of a neutron star low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) was first detected in 2007. This discovery opened up new ways to probe strong gravity and dense matter. The past decade has seen detections of such a line from many neutron star LMXBs, and confirmation of this line from the same source with several X-ray satellites. These have firmly established the new field of relativistic disc line from neutron star systems in only ten years. Fitting the shape of such a line with an appropriate general relativistic model provides the accretion disc inner edge radius to the stellar mass ratio. In this review, we briefly discuss how an accurate measurement of this ratio with a future larger area X-ray instrument can be used to constrain neutron star equation of state models.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, Has appeared in Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy special issue on 'Physics of Neutron Stars and Related Objects', celebrating the 75th birth-year of G. Srinivasa

Fast Radio Bursts from neutron stars plunging into black holes

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are millisecond-duration intense radio flares occurring at cosmological distances. Many models have been proposed to explain these topical astronomical events, but none has so far been confirmed. Here we show that a novel way involving enhanced giant radio pulses from a rapidly spun-up neutron star near a spinning black hole can explain the main properties of non-repeating FRBs. Independent observations of such pulses, which are not enhanced, from some Galactic pulsars make our model reliable. If correct, our model would imply the existence of event horizons, the Lense-Thirring effect, and a significant spin energy extraction from a black hole. Moreover, an FRB would then probe the pulsar magnetosphere and its emission, and map the strong gravity region near a black hole. Besides, our model predicts simultaneous detections of FRBs and gravitational waves from black hole -- neutron star mergers for fortuitously nearby FRB events.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figur

Simultaneous observations of a pair of kilohertz QPOs and a plausible 1860 Hz QPO from an accreting neutron star system

We report an indication (3.22 sigma) of ~ 1860 Hz quasi-periodic oscillations from a neutron star low-mass X-ray binary 4U 1636-536. If confirmed, this will be by far the highest frequency feature observed from an accreting neutron star system, and hence could be very useful to understand such systems. This plausible timing feature was observed simultaneously with lower (~ 585 Hz) and upper (~ 904 Hz) kilohertz quasi-periodic oscillations. The two kilohertz quasi-periodic oscillation frequencies had the ratio of ~ 1.5, and the frequency of the alleged ~ 1860 Hz feature was close to the triple and the double of these frequencies. This can be useful to constrain the models of all the three features. In particular, the ~ 1860 Hz feature could be (1) from a new and heretofore unknown class of quasi-periodic oscillations, or (2) the first observed overtone of lower or upper kilohertz quasi-periodic oscillations. Finally we note that, although the relatively low significance of the ~ 1860 Hz feature argues for caution, even a 3.22 sigma feature at such a uniquely high frequency should be interesting enough to spur a systematic search in the archival data, as well as to scientifically motivate sufficiently large timing instruments for the next generation X-ray missions.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Research in Astronomy and Astrophysic

X-ray views of neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries

A neutron star low-mass X-ray binary is a binary stellar system with a neutron star and a low-mass companion star rotating around each other. In this system the neutron star accretes mass from the companion, and as this matter falls into the deep potential well of the neutron star, the gravitational potential energy is released primarily in the X-ray wavelengths. Such a source was first discovered in X-rays in 1962, and this discovery formally gave birth to the "X-ray astronomy". In the subsequent decades, our knowledge of these sources has increased enormously by the observations with several X-ray space missions. Here we give a brief overview of our current understanding of the X-ray observational aspects of these systems.Comment: 21 pages, 13 figures, An Invited Review, published in Current Scienc

Application of a new method to study the spin equilibrium of Aql X-1: the possibility of gravitational radiation

Accretion via disks can make neutron stars in low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) fast spinning, and some of these stars are detected as millisecond pulsars. Here we report a practical way to find out if a neutron star in a transient LMXB has reached the spin equilibrium by disk--magnetosphere interaction alone, and if not, to estimate this spin equilibrium frequency. These can be done using specific measurable source luminosities, such as the luminosity corresponding to the transition between the accretion and propeller phases, and the known stellar spin rate. Such a finding can be useful to test if the spin distribution of millisecond pulsars, as well as an observed upper cutoff of their spin rates, can be explained using disk--magnetosphere interaction alone, or additional spin-down mechanisms, such as gravitational radiation, are required. Applying our method, we find that the neutron star in the transient LMXB Aql X--1 has not yet reached the spin equilibrium by disk--magnetosphere interaction alone. We also perform numerical computations, with and without gravitational radiation, to study the spin evolution of Aql X--1 through a series of outbursts and to constrain its properties. While we find that the gravitational wave emission from Aql X--1 cannot be established with certainty, our numerical results show that the gravitational radiation from Aql X--1 is possible, with a $1.6\times10^{37}$ g cm$^2$ upper limit of the neutron star misaligned mass quadrupole moment.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, published in The Astrophysical Journa

Fractional amplitude of kilohertz quasi-periodic oscillation from 4U 1728-34: evidence of decline at higher energies

A kilohertz quasi-periodic oscillation (kHz QPO) is an observationally robust high-frequency timing feature detected from neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs). This feature can be very useful to probe the superdense core matter of neutron stars, and the strong gravity regime. However, although many models exist in the literature, the physical origin of kHz QPO is not known, and hence this feature cannot be used as a tool yet. The energy dependence of kHz QPO fractional rms amplitude is an important piece of the jigsaw puzzle to understand the physical origin of this timing feature. It is known that the fractional rms amplitude increases with energy at lower energies. At higher energies, the amplitude is usually believed to saturate, although this is not established. We combine tens of lower kHz QPOs from a neutron star LMXB 4U 1728-34 in order to improve the signal-to-noise-ratio. Consequently, we, for the first time to the best of our knowledge, find a significant and systematic decrease of the fractional rms amplitude with energy at higher photon energies. Assuming an energy spectrum model, blackbody+powerlaw, we explore if the sinusoidal variation of a single spectral parameter can reproduce the above mentioned fractional rms amplitude behavior. Our analysis suggests that the oscillation of any single blackbody parameter is favored over the oscillation of any single powerlaw parameter, in order to explain the measured amplitude behavior. We also find that the quality factor of a lower kHz QPO does not plausibly depend on photon energy.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, published in The Astrophysical Journal; a more detailed (and rigorous) version may be available late

Does the gravitomagnetic monopole exist? A clue from a black hole x-ray binary

The gravitomagnetic monopole is the proposed gravitational analogue of Dirac's magnetic monopole. However, an observational evidence of this aspect of fundamental physics was elusive. Here, we employ a technique involving three primary X-ray observational methods used to measure a black hole spin to search for the gravitomagnetic monopole. These independent methods give significantly different spin values for an accreting black hole. We demonstrate that the inclusion of one extra parameter due to the gravitomagnetic monopole not only makes the spin and other parameter values inferred from the three methods consistent with each other but also makes the inferred black hole mass consistent with an independently measured value. We argue that this first indication of the gravitomagnetic monopole, within our paradigm, is not a result of fine tuning.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, revised version, accepted for publication in PR

Evidence of thermonuclear flame spreading on neutron stars from burst rise oscillations

Burst oscillations during the rising phases of thermonuclear X-ray bursts are usually believed to originate from flame spreading on the neutron star surface. However, the decrease of fractional oscillation amplitude with rise time, which provides a main observational support for the flame spreading model, have so far been reported from only a few bursts. Moreover, the non-detection and intermittent detections of rise oscillations from many bursts are not yet understood considering the flame spreading scenario. Here, we report the decreasing trend of fractional oscillation amplitude from an extensive analysis of a large sample of Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer Proportional Counter Array bursts from ten neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries. This trend is 99.99% significant for the best case, which provides, to the best of our knowledge, by far the strongest evidence of such trend. Moreover, it is important to note that an opposite trend is not found from any of the bursts. The concave shape of the fractional amplitude profiles for all the bursts suggests latitude-dependent flame speeds, possibly due to the effects of the Coriolis force. We also systematically study the roles of low fractional amplitude and low count rate for non-detection and intermittent detections of rise oscillations, and attempt to understand them within the flame spreading scenario. Our results support a weak turbulent viscosity for flame spreading, and imply that burst rise oscillations originate from an expanding hot spot, thus making these oscillations a more reliable tool to constrain the neutron star equations of state.Comment: 27 pages, 13 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in Ap

A tilted and warped inner accretion disc around a spinning black hole: an analytical solution

Inner accretion disc around a black hole provides a rare, natural probe to understand the fundamental physics of the strong gravity regime. A possible tilt of such a disc, with respect to the black hole spin equator, is important. This is because such a tilt affects the observed spectral and timing properties of the disc X-ray emission via Lense-Thirring precession, which could be used to test the theoretical predictions regarding the strong gravity. Here, we analytically solve the steady, warped accretion disc equation of Scheurer and Feiler (1996), and find an expression of the radial profile of the disc tilt angle. In our exact solution, considering a prograde disc around a slowly spinning black hole, we include the inner part of the disc, which was not done earlier in this formalism. Such a solution is timely, as a tilted inner disc has recently been inferred from X-ray spectral and timing features of the accreting black hole H1743-322. Our tilt angle radial profile expression includes observationally measurable parameters, such as black hole mass and Kerr parameter, and the disc inner edge tilt angle $W_{\rm in}$, and hence can be ideal to confront observations. Our solution shows that the disc tilt angle in $10-100$ gravitational radii is a significant fraction of the disc outer edge tilt angle, even for $W_{\rm in} = 0$. Moreover, tilt angle radial profiles have humps in $\sim 10-1000$ gravitational radii for some sets of parameter values, which should have implications for observed X-ray features.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societ

Thermonuclear X-ray bursts from the 401 Hertz accreting pulsar IGR J17498-2921: indication of burning in confined regions

We use the 2011 Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) proportional counter array (PCA) data of the 401 Hz accreting pulsar and burster IGR J17498-2921 to perform timing analysis and time-resolved spectroscopy of 12 thermonuclear X-ray bursts. We confirm previously reported burst oscillations from this source with a much higher significance (8.8\sigma). We notice that the bursts can be divided into three groups: big photospheric radius expansion (PRE) bursts are about ten times more luminous than medium bursts, while the latter are about ten times more luminous than small bursts. The PCA field-of-view of these observations contains several known bursters, and hence some of the observed bursts might not be from IGR J17498-2921. The oscillations during big bursts at the known pulsar frequency show that these bursts were definitely from IGR J17498-2921. We find that at least several of the other bursts were also likely originated from IGR J17498-2921. Spectral analysis reveals that the luminosity differences among various bursts are primarily due to differences in normalizations, and not temperatures, even when we consider the effects of colour factor. This shows burning on a fraction of the stellar surface for those small and medium bursts, which originated from IGR J17498-2921. The low values of the upper limits of burst oscillation amplitude for these bursts suggest a small angle between the spin axis and the magnetic axis. We find indications of the PRE nature of a medium burst, which likely originated from IGR J17498-2921. If true, then, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that two PRE bursts with a peak count rate ratio of as high as {\approx} 12 have been detected from the same source.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in MNRA