Kilohertz quasi-periodic oscillations in low mass X-ray binary sources and their relation with the neutron star magnetic field

Abstract

Starting from the observation that kilohertz Quasi Period Oscillations (kHz QPO) occur in a very narrow range of X-ray luminosities in neutron star low mass X-ray binaries, we try to link the kHz QPO observability to variations of the neutron star magnetospheric radius, in response to changing mass inflow rate. At low luminosities, the drop off of kHz QPOs activity may be explained by the onset of the centrifugal barrier, when the magnetospheric radius reaches the corotation radius. At the opposite side, at higher luminosities, the magnetospheric radius may reach the neutron star and the vanishing of the magnetosphere may led to the stopping of the kHz QPOs activity. If we apply these constraints, the magnetic fields of atoll (B ~ 0.3-1 10^8 G for Aql X-1) and Z (B ~ 1-8 10^8 G for Cyg X-2) sources can be derived. These limits naturally apply in the framework of beat frequency models but can also work in the case of general relativistic models.