Optical monitoring of IGR J00291+5934
ATel #395; I. Bikmaev, V. Suleimanov, A. Galeev, N. Sakhibullin (KSU/AST), A. Alpar (SU), Z. Aslan, I. Khamitov (TUG), R. Burenin, M. Pavlinsky (IKI), R. Sunyaev (MPA/IKI)
on 24 Jan 2005; 16:03 UT
Credential Certification: M. Revnivtsev (mikej@mpa-garching.mpg.de)
Subjects: Optical, Binary, Neutron Star, Pulsar
We have photometrically monitored the optical transient
associated with the accretion-powered millisecond pulsar
IGRJ00291+5934 (ATEL352,353,354,363) during the period of
December 11, 2004 - January 13, 2005, with Russian-Turkish
1.5-m optical telescope (RTT150) at Bakirlitepe (Antalya, Turkey).
The R-band light curve is shown at http://db.rsdc.rssi.ru/IGRJ00291+5934/fig1.jpg
Optical flux decay is nearly exponential with
e-folding time 5.66+/-0.2 days.
The rate of optical flux decay is consistent with
the decay rate in 2.5-25 keV X-Ray flux during
the first 10-15 days after the burst
(Galloway et al.,2005, astro-ph/0501064).
Optical brightness variations with amplitude ~ 0.3 mag
at timescales of hours were detected when the transient
was bright enough (R~19-21 mag).
A possible re-brightening of the optical transient
was detected ~ 40 days after the burst (January 9-13, 2005).
We note, that after the optical transient of SAX J1808.4-3658
(Giles et al., MNRAS, 1999,304,47, R.Wijnands, astro-ph/0501264),
this is the second accretion powered millisecond pulsar with
an observed decay in the optical.
IGRJ00291+5934 light curve
