2009/07/15 by Dai Hailang, Hailang, Dai, Li Xiangdong +2
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #FOS: Physical sciences #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #astro-ph.HE
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0907.2507
5 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, accepted by Science in China Series G
arxiv created 2009/07/15 · openalex publication_date 2009/07/15 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We investigate the birthrate problem for low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) and millisecond radio pulsars (MRPs) in this paper. We consider intermediate-mass and low-mss X-ray binaries (I/LMXBs) as the progenitors of MRPs, and calculate their evolutionary response to the cosmic star formation rate (SFR) both semi-analytically and numerically. With typical value (~1 Gyr) of the LMXB lifetime, one may expect comparable birthrates of LMXBs and MRPs, but the calculated number of LMXBs is an order of magnitude higher than observed in the Galaxy. Instead, we suggest that the birthrate problem could be solved if most MRPs have evolved from faint rather bright LMXBs. The former may have a population of ~ 104 in the Galaxy.