Abstract:

We request a 50 ks observation of a pulsating (P~170 s), accretingwhite dwarf binary located in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The systemwas serendipitously detected off-axis during analysis of an archivalXMM-Newton observation (2013) that was severely contaminated by highbackground. Such objects are thought to be candidates for the progenitorsof type Ia supernovae, or may alternatively undergo accretion-inducedcollapse to form the neutron stars in some millisecond pulsars. Thenature of their short period oscillations remains unknown. The on-axisXMM-Newton observation proposed below would deliver a much improvedspectrum, allowing precise characterisation of the system.

Website