GBT02B-026

Radio detection of the millisecond X-ray Pulsar XTE J1751-305

Abstract

This is a TOO proposal is for observations of a fantastic new source that has been detected over the past week with the RXTE satellite -- XTE J1751-305 (reported in IAU Circs 7867, 7870, 7872, and 7874). This object is an accretion-powered millisecond x-ray pulsar (only the second ever observed). Its spin period is 2.3ms and its orbital period is an astonishing 42 minutes -- twice as fast as the next most compact binary pulsar. It is almost certainly in the final stages of neutron star spin-up as an LMXB and will emerge as a bona-fide millisecond pulsar (MSP) when accretion stops -- or so the models predict. A system in the process of transforming from LMXB to MSP has never been witnessed. Such a system that shows the actual spin-up of coherent pulsations in both X-rays and radio has been a "holy grail" of pulsar and X-ray binary astronomers for many years. XTE J1751-305 could very well be such a system.

**Investigators**
Name	Other *	Institution	Email	Phone
Scott Ransom	PI	McGill University	ransom@physics.mcgill.ca	514-398-6492
Ingrid Stairs		NRAO - Green Bank	istairs@nrao.edu	(304)456-2213
Fernando Camilo		Columbia Astrophysics Laborato	fernando@astro.columbia.edu	212 854-2540

* PI = Principal Investigator; T = Thesis observations; S = Student

Front Ends

Gregorian L(1.15 to 1.73 GHz)
Gregorian S(1.73 to 2.6 GHz)

Back Ends

Berkley Caltech Pulsar Machine

Type of Observing

Pulsar

Switching Type

Allocated time: 4.00 hours.

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