On the nature and evolution of the windy binary pulsar PSR 1744 - 24A

It is suggested that the companion of the pulsar PSR 1744 - 24A is an approximately 0.1 solar mass main-sequence star that slightly underfills its Roche lobe and is sending off a cool wind due to excitation by radiation from the pulsar. Unlike in the similarly excited system of pulsar PSR 1957 + 20, pulsar radiation pressure here almost balances wind pressure at the companion distance, leading to vastly fluctuating eclipse patterns and to occasional attempted accretion episodes that are aborted by the propeller effect and result in X-ray bursts. If this picture is correct, multiwavelength continuous observations of PSR 1744 - 24A will give valuable information about the accretion process onto neutron stars rotating with millisecond periods.