Eclipse Timings of the LMXB XTE J1710−281 : discovery of a third orbital period glitch

Abstract

We present an updated measurement of orbital period evolution of LMXB XTE J1710−281 by using eclipse timing technique. Using data obtained with XMM-Newton, Suzaku, RXTE, Chandra, and AstroSat observatories, we report 21 new measurements of X-ray mid-eclipse times. We have discovered a third orbital period glitch in XTE J1710−281 with an F-test false alarm probability of ∼0.7 per cent for occurrence of the third glitch and report detection of four distinct epochs of orbital period in this system. This work presents a more robust estimation of occurrence of the second orbital period glitch. However, the epoch of occurrence of the third glitch is poorly constrained, between MJD 55726 and 56402. We have put lower limits of 1.48, 0.97, and 0.45 ms, on sudden changes in orbital period between the successive epochs. We discuss the implications of our findings in context of magnetic nature of the companion star and possible scattering events with circumbinary objects around this binary system.