Improved Mass and Radius Constraints for Quiescent Neutron Stars in Omega Cen and NGC 6397
View/ Open
Author
Heinke, C. O.
Cohn, H. N.
Lugger, P. M.
Webb, N. A.
Ho, W. C. G.
Anderson, J.
Campana, S.
Bogdanov, S.
Haggard, D.
Cool, A. M.
Note: Order does not necessarily reflect citation order of authors.
Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stu1449Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Heinke, C. O., H. N. Cohn, P. M. Lugger, N. A. Webb, W. C. G. Ho, J. Anderson, S. Campana, et al. 2014. “Improved Mass and Radius Constraints for Quiescent Neutron Stars in Cen and NGC 6397.” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 444 (1) (August 16): 443–456. doi:10.1093/mnras/stu1449.Abstract
We use Chandra and XMM–Newton observations of the globular clusters ω Cen and NGC 6397 to measure the spectrum of their quiescent neutron stars (NSs), and thus to constrain the allowed ranges of mass and radius for each. We also use Hubble Space Telescope photometry of NGC 6397 to identify a potential optical companion to the quiescent NS, and find evidence that the companion lacks hydrogen. We carefully consider a number of systematic problems, and show that the choices of atmospheric composition, interstellar medium abundances, and cluster distances can have important effects on the inferred NS mass and radius. We find that for typical NS masses, the radii of both NSs are consistent with the 10-13 km range favoured by recent nuclear physics experiments. This removes the evidence suggested by Guillot and collaborators for an unusually small NS radius, which relied upon the small inferred radius of the NGC 6397 NS.Other Sources
https://arxiv.org/abs/1406.1497Terms of Use
This article is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Open Access Policy Articles, as set forth at http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of-use#OAPCitable link to this page
http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:30168201
Collections
- FAS Scholarly Articles [18304]
Contact administrator regarding this item (to report mistakes or request changes)