8,738 research outputs found
Discovery of a Spin-Down State Change in the LMC Pulsar B0540-69
We report the discovery of a large, sudden, and persistent increase in the
spin-down rate of B0540-69, a young pulsar in the Large Magellanic Cloud, using
observations from the Swift and RXTE satellites. The relative increase in the
spin-down rate of 36% is unprecedented for B0540-69. No accompanying change in
the spin rate is seen, and no change is seen in the pulsed X-ray emission from
B0540-69 following the change in the spin-down rate. Such large relative
changes in the spin-down rate are seen in the recently discovered class of
'intermittent pulsars', and we compare the properties of B0540-69 to such
pulsars. We consider possible changes in the magnetosphere of the pulsar that
could cause such a large change in the spin-down rate.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letter
Constraints on the Growth and Spin of the Supermassive Black Hole in M32 From High Cadence Visible Light Observations
We present 1-second cadence observations of M32 (NGC221) with the CHIMERA
instrument at the Hale 200-inch telescope of the Palomar Observatory. Using
field stars as a baseline for relative photometry, we are able to construct a
light curve of the nucleus in the g-prime and r-prime band with 1sigma=36
milli-mag photometric stability. We derive a temporal power spectrum for the
nucleus and find no evidence for a time-variable signal above the noise as
would be expected if the nuclear black hole were accreting gas. Thus, we are
unable to constrain the spin of the black hole although future work will use
this powerful instrument to target more actively accreting black holes. Given
the black hole mass of (2.5+/-0.5)*10^6 Msun inferred from stellar kinematics,
the absence of a contribution from a nuclear time-variable signal places an
upper limit on the accretion rate which is 4.6*10^{-8} of the Eddington rate, a
factor of two more stringent than past upper limits from HST. The low mass of
the black hole despite the high stellar density suggests that the gas liberated
by stellar interactions was primarily at early cosmic times when the low-mass
black hole had a small Eddington luminosity. This is at least partly driven by
a top-heavy stellar initial mass function at early cosmic times which is an
efficient producer of stellar mass black holes. The implication is that
supermassive black holes likely arise from seeds formed through the coalescence
of 3-100 Msun mass black holes that then accrete gas produced through stellar
interaction processes.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, submitted to the Astrophysical Journal, comments
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