Detection of X-ray emission from a bright long-period radio transient

Journal article

Recently, a class of long-period radio transients (LPTs) has been discovered, exhibiting emission thousands of times longer than radio pulsars. These findings, enabled by advances in wide-field radio surveys, challenge existing models of rotationally powered pulsars. Proposed models include highly magnetized neutron stars, white-dwarf pulsars and white-dwarf binary systems with low-mass companions. Although some models predict X-ray emission, no LPTs have been detected in X-rays despite extensive searches Here we report the discovery of an extremely bright LPT (10–20 Jy in radio), ASKAP J1832−0911, which has coincident radio and X-ray emission, both with a 44.2-minute period. Its correlated and highly variable X-ray and radio luminosities, combined with other observational properties, are unlike any known Galactic object. The source could be an old magnetar or an ultra-magnetized white dwarf; however, both interpretations present theoretical challenges. This X-ray detection from an LPT reveals that these objects are more energetic than previously thought and establishes a class of hour-scale periodic X-ray transients with a luminosity of about 1033 erg s−1 linked to exceptionally bright coherent radio emission.

Authors: Wang, Z; Rea, N; Bao, T; Kaplan, DL; Lenc, E

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Springer Nature
• Journal: Nature
• Volume: 642
• Issue: 8068
• Pages: 583–586
• Place of publication: England
• Publication date: 2025-05-28
• Acceptance date: 2025-04-28
• DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09077-w
• EISSN: 1476-4687
• ISSN: 0028-0836
• Pmid: 40437090
• Language: English