Gravitational Waves and the Maximum Spin Frequency of Neutron Stars
arXiv:1109.0536 · doi:10.1088/0004-637X/746/1/9
Abstract
In this Letter we re-examine the idea that gravitational waves are required as a braking mechanism to explain the observed maximum spin-frequency of neutron stars. We show that for millisecond X-ray pulsars, the existence of spin equilibrium as set by the disk/magnetosphere interaction is sufficient to explain the observations. We show as well that no clear correlation exists between the neutron star magnetic field B and the X-ray outburst luminosity Lx when considering an enlarged sample size of millisecond X-ray pulsars.
5 pages, 2 figures, Submitted to ApJ Letters