Do quiescent soft x‐ray transients contain millisecond radio pulsars?

Abstract

Soft x‐ray transients (SXRTs) in outburst show properties similar to those of persistent low mass x‐ray binaries (LMXRBs), and therefore likely contain an old weakly magnetic neutron star spun‐up by accretion torques. Available x‐ray observations can be used to constrain the spin period and magnetic field strength of the neutron stars in SXRTs. The conditions under which a detectable radio pulsar signal can be produced by the rapidly rotating neutron star in the quiescent phase of a SRXT are investigated.