Enigmatic transitional millisecond pulsars
Dr. Amruta Jaodand; Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology
Transitional millisecond pulsars (tMSPs) switch between a low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) and a radio millisecond pulsar (RMSP) state, establishing a firm evolutionary link between the two source classes. tMSPs provide a great avenue to study the low-level accretion processes that spin-up pulsars to millisecond periods. Systematic, multi-wavelength observational campaigns over the last decade have resulted in surprising finds such as: i) persistent, multi-year-long, low-level (Lx <10^34 ergs/s) accretion state with coherent pulsations; ii) extremely stable, bi-modal X-ray light curves; iii) radio outflows, and iv) uninterrupted pulsar spin down in the X-rays. In this unique state, we have now found the first known UV millisecond pulsar with a dedicated multi-wavelength campaign involving the Hubble space telescope. In my talk I will review observational understanding of tMSPs while highlighting key finds which reveal how these systems have altered our understanding of low level accretion and pulsed emission in neutron stars.
Biography: Dr. Amruta Jaodand is a postdoctoral reseacher in the NuSTAR group at Caltech's Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy. Previously, she did her PhD at University of Amsterdam. She works on observational investigations of various neutron stars such as millisecond pulsars, magnetars, gravitational wave engines and X-ray binaries with a deeper expertise in transitional millisecond pulsars and multi-wavelength gravitational wave follow up. As a PI, she has won observational time and funding for ~30 proposals spanning observatories such as XMM, NuStar, Swift, Green Bank Telescope, ZTF and VLA etc. Another interest of her’s is astroinformatics in the era of large scale datasets. To that effect she has worked for the past five years in bringing together EU and American astronomers through multiple conferences to probe machine learning and visualisation approaches.
22 MAR 2022: Physics and Astronomy Colloquium
3:30pm, Online via Zoom
Zoom Link: https://uiowa.zoom.us/j/94392147007
Meeting ID: 943 9214 7007, No passcode