Pulsing signals reveal hidden structure around a famous neutron star

Scientists from the Raman Research Institute, an autonomous institution under the Department of Science and Technology, have discovered that the X-ray pulsar Centaurus X-3 accretes material through an accretion disk, which is rare for high-mass X-ray binaries. By investigating secondary emission lines, researchers found that an accretion stream co-rotating with the pulsar causes variability in these emission lines. This finding implies that future emission models for such binary pulsars must account for the presence of an accretion disk and stream.