Discovery of a 0.42-s pulsar in the ultraluminous X-ray source NGC 7793 P13

NGC 7793 P13 is a variable (luminosity range similar to 100) ultraluminous X-ray source proposed to host a stellar-mass black hole of less than 15M circle dot in a binary system with orbital period of 64 d and a 18-23 M-circle dot B9Ia companion. Within the EXTraS ( Exploring the X-ray Transient and variable Sky) project, we discovered pulsations at a period of similar to 0.42 s in two XMM-Newton observations of NGC 7793 P13, during which the source was detected at LX similar to 2.1 x 1039 and 5 x 1039 erg s(-1) (0.3- 10 keV band). These findings unambiguously demonstrate that the compact object in NGC 7793 P13 is a neutron star accreting at super-Eddington rates. While standard accretion models face difficulties accounting for the pulsar X-ray luminosity, the presence of a multipolar magnetic field with B similar to few x 10(13) G close to the base of the accretion column appears to be in agreement with the properties of the system.