Evidence for an ~80 day periodicity in the X-ray transient pulsar XTE J1946+274

We report evidence for an ~ 80 d periodicity in the X-ray flux of the hard transient pulsar XTE J1946+274. The 1.3-12 keV light curve obtained with the RossiXTE All Sky Monitor shows five regularly spaced flares over a ~ 1 year baseline starting from the outburst onset in Sept. 1998. The first and strongest flare is somewhat longer than the subsequent four flares, which recur in a fairly periodic fashion. This suggests that the profile of the first flare is dominated by the time variability of the Be star ejection episode, while the following four flares are primarily caused by the neutron star motion along an eccentric orbit.