{
  "abstract": "Transitional millisecond pulsars (tMSPs) alternate between radio and X-ray pulsar states, and can represent the missing link between rotation- and accretion-powered neutron stars. Their disk state switches stochastically between low and high X-ray modes, both of unknown physical origin and less luminous than low-mass X-ray binaries. To reveal the source of the X-ray emission, we carry out 2D axisymmetric general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamical simulations of the interaction between an accretion disk and a tMSP magnetosphere. For the first time, we postprocess tMSP simulations with a radiative transfer code that incorporates thermal synchrotron, absorption, and Compton scattering processes. By varying the disk density, hence the inflow rate, we explore two disk regimes: one truncated outside and another inside the light cylinder. In the former, most of the X-ray flux comes from the synchrotron emission powered by the wind heating the disk: this “wind” regime could correspond to the high X-ray mode . The latter is the classical propeller regime and lacks this heating. However, the propeller episodically expels the disk, activating the wind heating: a 70%–30% mixture of such propeller and wind regimes reproduces the X-ray spectrum of the low X-ray mode . The excess electromagnetic torque in the propeller regime increases the spin-down rate, averaged over both modes, by a few percent above the disk-free radio pulsar state, in agreement with observations. Overall, the system is more luminous in X-rays when the flow is truncated outside the light cylinder and supports a contribution from wind-induced disk heating in both low and high X-ray modes.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Norwegian University of Science and Technology",
    "University of Valladolid UVA",
    "Aix Marseille Univ",
    "Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya",
    "Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory",
    "Northwestern University",
    "NSF-Simons AI Institute for the Sky (SkAI)",
    "University of Toronto"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2607.19113",
  "author_total": 5,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Raphaël Mignon-Risse",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-3072-1496"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Manuel Linares",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-0237-1636"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Kyle Parfrey",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6173-0099"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5,
        6
      ],
      "name": "Alexander Tchekhovskoy",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-9182-2047"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7
      ],
      "name": "Sean Ressler",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-0220-5723"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3ng9e71bxw9ep.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3847/2041-8213/aeb00c",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "3ng9e71bxw9ep",
  "issns": [
    "2041-8205",
    "2041-8213"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://hal.science/hal-05734273v1",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "hal",
      "0.phys"
    ],
    [
      "hal",
      "1.phys.astr"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": "https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/aeb00c/pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-01",
  "publisher": "American Astronomical Society",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3ng9e71bxw9ep.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:24Z",
      "native_id": "hal-05734273",
      "source": "hal",
      "url": "https://hal.science/hal-05734273v1"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:18:13Z",
      "native_id": "10.3847/2041-8213/aeb00c",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/aeb00c"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "astronomy",
      "origin": "journal-openalex:3103|Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies",
      "subfield": "stellar"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Modes in Transitional Millisecond Pulsars: Evidence of Pulsar Wind-Induced Disk Heating from GRMHD and Radiative Transfer",
  "title_text": "Modes in Transitional Millisecond Pulsars: Evidence of Pulsar Wind-Induced Disk Heating from GRMHD and Radiative Transfer",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:18:13Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3ng9e71bxw9ep",
  "venue": "Astrophys.J.Lett.",
  "versions": []
}