Paper detail

Variability of Nineteen Millisecond Pulsars in 47 Tucanae with CHANDRA/HRC-S

We present results from our 830 ksec observation of the globular cluster 47 Tucanae with the Chandra X-ray Observatory's High Resolution Camera-S. We limit our analysis here to the 19 previously known, localized millisecond pulsars (MSPs) in the cluster. This work more than doubles the sample of X-ray-detected MSPs observed with sensitivity to rotational variability; it is also the first survey of a large group of radio-discovered MSPs for which no previous X-ray pulsations have been detected and is therefore an unbiased survey of the X-ray properties of radio-discovered MSPs. We find that only 47 Tuc D, O and R show significant pulsations at the >~ 4-sigma level, but there is statistical evidence for rotational variability in five additional MSPs. Furthermore, we constrain the pulsed magnetospheric emission of 7 more MSPs using Monte Carlo simulations. The result is that the majority of the 47 Tuc MSPs are characterized by low pulsed fractions, <~ 50%. In cases where larger pulsed fractions are measured the folded pulse profiles show relatively large duty cycles. When considered with previous spectroscopic studies, this suggests that the X-ray emission arises from the neutron star's heated polar caps, and in some cases, from intra-binary shocks, but generally not directly from the star's magnetosphere. We discuss the impact of these results on our understanding of high energy emission from MSPs.