Detection of X-ray emission from a bright long-period radio transient
/ Authors
Ziteng Wang, N. Rea, Tong Bao, D. L. Kaplan, E. Lenc, Z. Wadiasingh, J. Hare, A. Zic, A. Anumarlapudi, A. Bera
and 39 more authors
P. Beniamini, A. J. Cooper, T. Clarke, A. Deller, J. Dawson, M. Glowacki, N. Hurley-Walker, S. Mcsweeney, E. Polisensky, W. Peters, G. Younes, K. Bannister, M. Caleb, K. Dage, C. James, M. Kasliwal, V. Karambelkar, M. Lower, K. Mori, S. Ocker, M. P'erez-Torres, H. Qiu, K. Rose, Ryan M. Shannon, Rhianna Taub, Fa-yin Wang, Yuanming Wang, Zhenyin Zhao, N. Bhat, D. Dobie, L. Driessen, T. Murphy, A. Jaini, X. Deng, J. Jahns-Schindler, Y. W. J. Lee, J. Pritchard, J. Tuthill, N. Thyagarajan
/ Abstract
Recently, a class of long-period radio transients (LPTs) has been discovered, exhibiting emission thousands of times longer than radio pulsars1, 2, 3, 4–5. These findings, enabled by advances in wide-field radio surveys, challenge existing models of rotationally powered pulsars. Proposed models include highly magnetized neutron stars6, white-dwarf pulsars7 and white-dwarf binary systems with low-mass companions8. Although some models predict X-ray emission6,9, no LPTs have been detected in X-rays despite extensive searches1, 2, 3, 4–5,10. Here we report the discovery of an extremely bright LPT (10–20 Jy in radio), ASKAP J1832−0911, which has coincident radio and X-ray emission, both with a 44.2-minute period. Its correlated and highly variable X-ray and radio luminosities, combined with other observational properties, are unlike any known Galactic object. The source could be an old magnetar or an ultra-magnetized white dwarf; however, both interpretations present theoretical challenges. This X-ray detection from an LPT reveals that these objects are more energetic than previously thought and establishes a class of hour-scale periodic X-ray transients with a luminosity of about 1033 erg s−1 linked to exceptionally bright coherent radio emission. A long-period radio transient with coincident radio and X-ray emission and observational properties unlike any known Galactic object has been observed by the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder.
Journal: Nature