  The unusual properties of the bursting X-ray pulsar GRO J1744-28 are
explained in terms of a low-mass X-ray binary system consisting of an evolved
stellar companion transferring mass through Roche-lobe overflow onto a neutron
star, implying that the inclination of the system is < 18 degrees.
Interpretation of the QPO at frequency nu(QPO) = 40 Hz using the beat-frequency
model of Alpar \& Shaham and the measured period derivative with the Ghosh \&
Lamb accretion-torque model implies that the persistent X-ray luminosity of the
source is approximately equal to the Eddington luminosity and that the neutron
star has a surface equatorial magnetic field = 2e10 [40 Hz/nu(QPO)] G for
standard neutron star parameters. This implies a distance to GRO J1744-28 of ~
5 [nu(QPO)/40 Hz]^{1/6} b^{1/2} kpc, where b < 1 is a correction factor that
depends on the orientation of the neutron star.
