Assessing transitional pulsar candidates through a quantitative estimation of their light-curve similarity

Clicks: 7
ID: 332022
2026
Free PDF
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score — reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal
Emerging

Ranked #44 of 51 articles by views in RAS Techniques and Instruments

Most read Least read

Bar heights use a square-root scale.

Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet minted

Create a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.

5 SUSD one-off · no wallet required
Sign in to mint
Abstract
Abstract Transitional millisecond pulsars are often identified through X-ray light-curve morphology, especially by visual comparison with the prototype PSR J1023+0038. Such classifications remain qualitative and lack a calibrated notion of how much variability is already present within the prototype itself. We introduce a Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) framework that compares light curves through moving-window similarity distributions and calibrates candidate-prototype distances against the internal heterogeneity of PSR J1023+0038. In this formulation, a source is not simply asked to resemble one prototype observation, but to remain compatible with the range of morphologies exhibited by the prototype across observations. We apply the method to confirmed and candidate tMSPs and to a control sample of non-tMSP systems. The resulting similarity measure provides a reproducible ranking for tMSP-like behaviour and is therefore useful for candidate triage and archival searches. At the same time, the control sample shows that short-timescale accretion variability can partly mimic tMSP-like morphology, demonstrating that light-curve shape alone is a screening diagnostic rather than a definitive class identifier.
Reference Key
openalex_W7221032041 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Diego F. Torres, C. R. García, F. Coti Zelati, Domitilla de Martino, G. Illiano, Alessandro Papitto, A. Patruno, M. C. Baglio
Are you one of these authors? Claim your profile
Journal RAS Techniques and Instruments
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/rasti/rzag079
URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/rasti/rzag079
Keywords Keywords not found

Citations

No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org

Comments

No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.