Millisecond pulsars (MSPs) are generally believed to be old neutron stars(NSs), formed via type Ib/c core-collapse supernovae (SNe), which have beenspun up to high rotation rates via accretion from a companion star in alow-mass X-ray binary (LMXB). In an alternative formation channel, NSs areproduced via the accretion-induced collapse (AIC) of a massive white dwarf (WD)in a close binary. Here we investigate binary evolution leading to AIC andexamine if NSs formed in this way can subsequently be recycled to form MSPsand, if so, how they can observationally be distinguished from pulsars formedvia the standard core-collapse SN channel in terms of their masses, spins,orbital periods and space velocities. Numerical calculations with a detailedstellar evolution code were used for the first time to study the combined pre-and post-AIC evolution of close binaries. We investigated the mass transferonto a massive WD in 240 systems with three different types of non-degeneratedonor stars: main-sequence stars, red giants, and helium stars. When the WD isable to accrete sufficient mass (depending on the mass-transfer rate and theduration of the accretion phase) we assumed it collapses to form a NS and westudied the dynamical effects of this implosion on the binary orbit.Subsequently, we followed the mass-transfer epoch which resumes once the donorstar refills its Roche lobe and calculated the continued LMXB evolution untilthe end. We demonstrate that the final properties of these MSPs are, ingeneral, remarkably similar to those of MSPs formed via the standardcore-collapse SN channel. However, the resultant MSPs created via the AICchannel preferentially form in certain orbital period intervals. Finally, wediscuss the link between AIC and young NSs in globular clusters. Ourcalculations are also applicable to progenitor binaries of SNe Ia under certainconditions. [Abridged]
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