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Title: Constraining the mass and radius of neutron stars in globular clusters

Journal Article · · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty215· OSTI ID:1460181
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [6];  [7]
  1. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy; Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Physics Division
  2. Univ. of Alberta, Edmonton, AB (Canada). Dept. of Physics
  3. Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States). Columbia Astrophysics Lab.
  4. Univ. of Alberta, Edmonton, AB (Canada). Dept. of Physics; Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). Key Lab. for Particle Astrophysics. Inst. of High Energy Physics
  5. Univ. of Southampton (United Kingdom). Mathematical Sciences, Physics & Astronomy. STAG Research Centre
  6. Univ. of Alberta, Edmonton, AB (Canada). Dept. of Physics; Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
  7. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy

In this paper, we analyse observations of eight quiescent low-mass X-ray binaries in globular clusters and combine them to determine the neutron star mass–radius curve and the equation of state of dense matter. We determine the effect that several uncertainties may have on our results, including uncertainties in the distance, the atmosphere composition, the neutron star maximum mass, the neutron star mass distribution, the possible presence of a hotspot on the neutron star surface, and the prior choice for the equation of state of dense matter. The distance uncertainty is implemented in a new Gaussian blurring method that can be directly applied to the probability distribution over mass and radius. We find that the radius of a 1.4 solar mass neutron star is most likely from 10 to 14 km and that tighter constraints are only possible with stronger assumptions about the nature of the neutron stars, the systematics of the observations, or the nature of dense matter. Finally, strong phase transitions in the equation of state are preferred, and in this case, the radius is likely smaller than 12 km. However, radii larger than 12 km are preferred if the neutron stars have uneven temperature distributions.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP); National Science Foundation (NSF); Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC); Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) (United Kingdom)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725; PHY1554876
OSTI ID:
1460181
Journal Information:
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 476, Issue 1; ISSN 0035-8711
Publisher:
Royal Astronomical SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 87 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Rejecting proposed dense-matter equations of state with quiescent low-mass X-ray binaries text January 2014
Investigating Variability of Quiescent Neutron Stars in the Globular Clusters NGC 6440 and Terzan 5 text January 2014
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The impact of surface temperature inhomogeneities on quiescent neutron star radius measurements text January 2016
Intermittent dipping in a low-mass X-ray Binary text January 2016
The donor of Aquila X-1 revealed by high angular resolution near-infrared spectroscopy text January 2016
On the Absorption of X-rays in the Interstellar Medium text January 2000
X-Ray spectra from protons illuminating a neutron star text January 2001
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Thermal state of transiently accreting neutron stars text January 2002
Chandra X-Ray Observatory observations of the globular cluster M28 and its millisecond pulsar B1821-24 text January 2002
X-ray Studies of Two Neutron Stars in 47 Tucanae: Toward Constraints on the Equation of State text January 2003
Creating ultra-compact binaries in globular clusters through stable mass transfer text January 2004
A Hydrogen Atmosphere Spectral Model Applied to the Neutron Star X7 in the Globular Cluster 47 Tucanae text January 2005
On the possibility of a helium white dwarf donor in the presumed ultracompact binary 2S 0918-549 text January 2005
Chandra X-ray Sources in the Collapsed-Core Globular Cluster M30 (NGC 7099) text January 2006
Model Atmospheres for Low Field Neutron Stars text January 1995
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