PSR J102347.6+003841 is a radio pulsar system with a spin period of 1.69 ms and an orbital period of 4.75 hours. Uniquely, it undergoes periods of transient accretion from its companion star: it occupies an important position in the evolutionary trac
k from X-ray binary to isolated millisecond radio pulsar. Here we present a spectroscopic study of this system showing late-type absorption features which match those of a G2V star. We find a semiamplitude of $286 pm 3$ kms$^{-1}$ and a best fit orbital period of 0.1980966(1) days. We combine these measurements with optical photometry which suggests the secondary star may be underfilling its Roche lobe by between 15% and 20%. We weakly constrain the mass of the neutron star to be $leq$ 2.2 M$_odot$ at the 2$sigma$ level. We also discuss the possible origins of the H$alpha$ emission line in our template subtracted, averaged spectrum. Finally we present and discuss new optical photometry of J1023 taken during the recent outburst of the system.
We present phase resolved optical photometry and spectroscopy of the accreting millisecond pulsar HETE J1900.1-2455. Our R-band light curves exhibit a sinusoidal modulation, at close to the orbital period, which we initially attributed to X-ray heati
ng of the irradiated face of the secondary star. However, further analysis reveals that the source of the modulation is more likely due to superhumps caused by a precessing accretion disc. Doppler tomography of a broad Halpha emission line reveals an emission ring, consistent with that expected from an accretion disc. Using the velocity of the emission ring as an estimate for the projected outer disc velocity, we constrain the maximum projected velocity of the secondary to be 200 km/s, placing a lower limit of 0.05 Msun on the secondary mass. For a 1.4 Msun primary, this implies that the orbital inclination is low, < 20 degrees. Utilizing the observed relationship between the secondary mass and orbital period in short period cataclysmic variables, we estimate the secondary mass to be ~0.085 Msun, which implies an upper limit of ~2.4 Msun for the primary mass.
