THE MASSIVE PULSAR PSR J1614-2230: LINKING QUANTUM CHROMODYNAMICS, GAMMA-RAY BURSTS, AND GRAVITATIONAL WAVE ASTRONOMY

Journal Article · Wed Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 2010 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/724/2/L199· OSTI ID:21452636

Oezel, Feryal; Psaltis, Dimitrios ^[1]; Ransom, Scott; Demorest, Paul ^[2]; Alford, Mark ^[3]

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1. Department of Astronomy, University of Arizona, 933 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)
2. National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 520 Edgemont Rd., Charlottesville, VA 29903 (United States)
3. Physics Department, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130 (United States)

The recent measurement of the Shapiro delay in the radio pulsar PSR J1614-2230 yielded a mass of 1.97 {+-} 0.04 M {sub sun}, making it the most massive pulsar known to date. Its mass is high enough that, even without an accompanying measurement of the stellar radius, it has a strong impact on our understanding of nuclear matter, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), and the generation of gravitational waves from coalescing neutron stars. This single high-mass value indicates that a transition to quark matter in neutron-star cores can occur at densities comparable to the nuclear saturation density only if the quarks are strongly interacting and are color superconducting. We further show that a high maximum neutron-star mass is required if short-duration GRBs are powered by coalescing neutron stars and, therefore, this mechanism becomes viable in the light of the recent measurement. Finally, we argue that the low-frequency ({<=}500 Hz) gravitational waves emitted during the final stages of neutron-star coalescence encode the properties of the equation of state because neutron stars consistent with this measurement cannot be centrally condensed. This will facilitate the measurement of the neutron star equation of state with Advanced LIGO/Virgo.

• OSTI ID: 21452636
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 724, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/724/2/L199; ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
ASTRONOMY
COALESCENCE
COSMIC GAMMA BURSTS
EQUATIONS OF STATE
GRAVITATIONAL WAVES
NEUTRON STARS
NUCLEAR MATTER
PULSARS
QUANTUM CHROMODYNAMICS
QUARK MATTER
COSMIC RADIATION
COSMIC RADIO SOURCES
EQUATIONS
FIELD THEORIES
IONIZING RADIATIONS
MATTER
PRIMARY COSMIC RADIATION
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
RADIATIONS
STARS