A Spectral Insight into the Physics of Accreting ms Pulsars

Abstract

The broadened iron lines observed from accreting compact objects are most easily interpreted in terms of reflection onto the accretion disc of the hard X-ray photons emitted by the central source. In this context, such a broadness is due to the relativistic motion of the reflecting plasma, in the deep gravitational well of the compact object, and can thus serve as a probe of the inner radius of the disc. Here we report about the discovery of such features from a couple of accreting millisecond pulsars, and discuss the constraints which can be derived on the magnetospheric radius.