Discovery of a redback millisecond pulsar candidate: 3FGL J0212.1+5320
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824 (United States)
- United States
- Institute of Astronomy and Department of Physics, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan (China)
- Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650216 (China)
We present a multiwavelength study of the unidentified Fermi object, 3FGL J0212.1+5320. Within the 95% error ellipse, Chandra detects a bright X-ray source (i.e., F{sub 0.5--7keV}=1.4×10{sup −12} erg cm{sup −2} s{sup −1}) that has a low-mass optical counterpart (M≲0.4 M{sub ⊙} and T∼6000 K). A clear ellipsoidal modulation is shown in optical/infrared at 20.87 hr. The gamma-ray properties of 3FGL J0212.1+5320 are all consistent with that of a millisecond pulsar (MSP), suggesting that it is a γ-ray redback (RB) MSP binary with a low-mass companion filling ⪆64% of the Roche lobe. If confirmed, it will be an RB binary with one of the longest orbital periods known. Spectroscopic data taken in 2015 from the Lijiang observatory show no evidence of strong emission lines, revealing that the accretion is currently inactive (the rotation-powered pulsar state). This is consistent with the low X-ray luminosities (L{sub X}≈10{sup 32} erg s{sup −1}) and the possible X-ray modulation seen by Chandra and Swift. Considering that the X-ray luminosity and the high X-ray-to-γ-ray flux ratio (8%) are both comparable to those of the two known γ-ray transitional MSPs, we suspect that 3FGL J0212.1+5320 could be a potential target to search for future transition to the accretion active state.
- OSTI ID:
- 22868329
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 833, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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