LOW-FREQUENCY QUASI-PERIODIC OSCILLATION FROM THE 11 Hz ACCRETING PULSAR IN TERZAN 5: NOT FRAME DRAGGING

Journal Article · Thu Nov 01 04:00:00 EDT 2012 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/759/1/L20· OSTI ID:22078460

Altamirano, D; Van der Klis, M; Wijnands, R ^[1]; Ingram, A ^[2]; Linares, M; Homan, J ^[3]

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1. Astronomical Institute, 'Anton Pannekoek', University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098XH Amsterdam (Netherlands)
2. Department of Physics, University of Durham, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE (United Kingdom)
3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)

We report on six RXTE observations taken during the 2010 outburst of the 11 Hz accreting pulsar IGR J17480-2446 located in the globular cluster Terzan 5. During these observations we find power spectra which resemble those seen in Z-type high-luminosity neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries, with a quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) in the 35-50 Hz range simultaneous with a kHz QPO and broadband noise. Using well-known frequency-frequency correlations, we identify the 35-50 Hz QPOs as the horizontal branch oscillations, which were previously suggested to be due to Lense-Thirring (LT) precession. As IGR J17480-2446 spins more than an order of magnitude more slowly than any of the other neutron stars where these QPOs were found, this QPO cannot be explained by frame dragging. By extension, this casts doubt on the LT precession model for other low-frequency QPOs in neutron stars and perhaps even black hole systems.

• OSTI ID: 22078460
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Letters Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 759; ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
BINARY STARS
BLACK HOLES
HZ RANGE
KHZ RANGE
LUMINOSITY
NEUTRON STARS
OSCILLATIONS
PRECESSION
PULSARS
SPECTRA
X RADIATION