2006A&A...453.1037B

The high mass X-ray binary pulsar 4U 1538-52 was observed between July 31 and August 7, 2003. Using these observations, we determined new orbital epochs for both circular and elliptical orbit models. The orbital epochs for both orbit solutions agreed with each other and yielded an orbital period derivative {dot}(P)/P=(0.4±1.8)x10^–6yr^–1. This value is consistent with the earlier measurement of {dot}(P)/P=(2.9±2.1)x10^–6yr^–1 at the 1σ level and gives only an upper limit to the orbital period decay. Our determination of the pulse frequency showed that the source spun up at an average rate of 2.76x10^–14Hz/s between 1991 and 2003.