X-ray Observations of Neutron Star Binaries: Evidence for Millisecond Spins

Abstract

High amplitude X-ray brightness oscillations during thermonuclear X-ray bursts were discovered with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) in early 1996. Spectral and timing evidence strongly supports the conclusion that these oscillations are caused by rotational modulation of the burst emission and that they reveal the spin frequency of neutron stars in low mass X-ray binaries (LMXB), a long sought goal of X-ray astronomy. I briefly review the status of our knowledge of these oscillations. So far 10 neutron star systems have been observed to produce burst oscillations, interestingly, the observed frequencies cluster in a fairly narrow range from about 300 - 600 Hz, well below the break-up frequency for most modern neutron star equations of state (EOS). This has led to suggestions that their spin frequencies may be limited by the loss of angular momentum due to gravitational wave emission. Connections with gravity wave rotational instabilities will be briefly described.