An accreting pulsar with extreme properties drives an ultraluminous x-ray source in NGC 5907

Journal
SCIENCE
Date Issued
2017
Author(s)
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Belfiore, Andrea
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Puccetti, Simonetta
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Salvetti, David
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D'Agostino, Daniele
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Greiner, Jochen
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Haberl, Frank
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Novara, Giovanni
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Turolla, Roberto
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Watson, Mike
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Wilms, Joern
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DOI
10.1126/science.aai8635
Abstract
Ultraluminous x-ray sources (ULXs) in nearby galaxies shine brighter than any x-ray source in our Galaxy. ULXs are usually modeled as stellar-mass black holes (BHs) accreting at very high rates or intermediate-mass BHs. We present observations showing that NGC 5907 ULX is instead an x-ray accreting neutron star (NS) with a spin period evolving from 1.43 seconds in 2003 to 1.13 seconds in 2014. It has an isotropic peak luminosity of ~1000 times the Eddington limit for a NS at 17.1 megaparsec. Standard accretion models fail to explain its luminosity, even assuming beamed emission, but a strong multipolar magnetic field can describe its properties. These findings suggest that other extreme ULXs (x-ray luminosity ≥ 1041 erg second-1) might harbor NSs.
Volume
355
Issue
6327
Start page
817
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