Journal
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS
Volume 754, Issue 2, Pages -Publisher
IOP PUBLISHING LTD
DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/754/2/L25
Keywords
gamma rays: stars; pulsars: general
Categories
Funding
- NASA [NNX11AO44G]
- NASA [NNX11AO44G, 140125] Funding Source: Federal RePORTER
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We have found an optical/X-ray counterpart candidate for the bright, but presently unidentified, Fermi source 2FGL J1311.7-3429. This counterpart undergoes large-amplitude quasi-sinusoidal optical modulation with a 1.56 hr (5626 s) period. The modulated flux is blue at peak, with T-eff similar to 14,000 K, and redder at minimum. Superimposed on this variation are dramatic optical flares. Archival X-ray data suggest modest binary modulation, but no eclipse. With the gamma-ray properties, this appears to be another black-widow-type millisecond pulsar. If confirmation pulses can be found in the GeV data, this binary will have the shortest orbital period of any known spin-powered pulsar. The flares may be magnetic events on the rapidly rotating companion or shocks in the companion-stripping wind. While this may be a radio-quiet millisecond pulsar, we show that such objects are a small subset of the gamma-ray pulsar population.
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