Rotation frequency dependence on q and luminosity. Upper panel: mean BL rotation frequency (black dots; error bars show the root-mean-square variations of Ω) as a function of q compared to the equilibrium value, Ω₋ (solid red line). The dashed red line shows the rotation frequency of the NS (3 ms). Lower panels: BL rotation frequency dependence on instantaneous luminosity for sample light curves with three different values of depletion time corresponding to q = 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8. In all the simulations, α = 10⁻⁷. Time in the lower panels is color-coded (see the colorbar on the right). The crosses are the average values calculated for 64 s time bins, and the error bars show the standard deviation.