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Title: SYSTEMATIC UNCERTAINTIES IN THE SPECTROSCOPIC MEASUREMENTS OF NEUTRON-STAR MASSES AND RADII FROM THERMONUCLEAR X-RAY BURSTS. II. EDDINGTON LIMIT

Abstract

Time-resolved X-ray spectroscopy of thermonuclear bursts observed from low-mass X-ray binaries offer a unique tool to measure neutron-star masses and radii. In this paper, we continue our systematic analysis of all the X-ray bursts observed with Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer from X-ray binaries. We determine the events that show clear evidence for photospheric radius expansion and measure the Eddington limits for these accreting neutron stars using the bolometric fluxes attained at the touchdown moments of each X-ray burst. We employ a Bayesian technique to investigate the degree to which the Eddington limit for each source remains constant between bursts. We find that for sources with a large number of radius expansion bursts, systematic uncertainties are at a 5%-10% level. Moreover, in six sources with only pairs of Eddington-limited bursts, the distribution of fluxes is consistent with a {approx}10% fractional dispersion. This indicates that the spectroscopic measurements of neutron-star masses and radii using thermonuclear X-ray bursts can reach the level of accuracy required to distinguish between different neutron-star equations of state, provided that uncertainties related to the overall flux calibration of X-ray detectors are of comparable magnitude.

Authors:
; ;  [1]
  1. Department of Astronomy, University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
22016284
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Astrophysical Journal
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 747; Journal Issue: 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 0004-637X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; ASTROPHYSICS; BOLOMETERS; CALIBRATION; EQUATIONS OF STATE; MASS; NEUTRON STARS; TIME RESOLUTION; X RADIATION; X-RAY SPECTROSCOPY

Citation Formats

Guever, Tolga, Oezel, Feryal, and Psaltis, Dimitrios. SYSTEMATIC UNCERTAINTIES IN THE SPECTROSCOPIC MEASUREMENTS OF NEUTRON-STAR MASSES AND RADII FROM THERMONUCLEAR X-RAY BURSTS. II. EDDINGTON LIMIT. United States: N. p., 2012. Web. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/747/1/77.
Guever, Tolga, Oezel, Feryal, & Psaltis, Dimitrios. SYSTEMATIC UNCERTAINTIES IN THE SPECTROSCOPIC MEASUREMENTS OF NEUTRON-STAR MASSES AND RADII FROM THERMONUCLEAR X-RAY BURSTS. II. EDDINGTON LIMIT. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/747/1/77
Guever, Tolga, Oezel, Feryal, and Psaltis, Dimitrios. 2012. "SYSTEMATIC UNCERTAINTIES IN THE SPECTROSCOPIC MEASUREMENTS OF NEUTRON-STAR MASSES AND RADII FROM THERMONUCLEAR X-RAY BURSTS. II. EDDINGTON LIMIT". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/747/1/77.
@article{osti_22016284,
title = {SYSTEMATIC UNCERTAINTIES IN THE SPECTROSCOPIC MEASUREMENTS OF NEUTRON-STAR MASSES AND RADII FROM THERMONUCLEAR X-RAY BURSTS. II. EDDINGTON LIMIT},
author = {Guever, Tolga and Oezel, Feryal and Psaltis, Dimitrios},
abstractNote = {Time-resolved X-ray spectroscopy of thermonuclear bursts observed from low-mass X-ray binaries offer a unique tool to measure neutron-star masses and radii. In this paper, we continue our systematic analysis of all the X-ray bursts observed with Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer from X-ray binaries. We determine the events that show clear evidence for photospheric radius expansion and measure the Eddington limits for these accreting neutron stars using the bolometric fluxes attained at the touchdown moments of each X-ray burst. We employ a Bayesian technique to investigate the degree to which the Eddington limit for each source remains constant between bursts. We find that for sources with a large number of radius expansion bursts, systematic uncertainties are at a 5%-10% level. Moreover, in six sources with only pairs of Eddington-limited bursts, the distribution of fluxes is consistent with a {approx}10% fractional dispersion. This indicates that the spectroscopic measurements of neutron-star masses and radii using thermonuclear X-ray bursts can reach the level of accuracy required to distinguish between different neutron-star equations of state, provided that uncertainties related to the overall flux calibration of X-ray detectors are of comparable magnitude.},
doi = {10.1088/0004-637X/747/1/77},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22016284}, journal = {Astrophysical Journal},
issn = {0004-637X},
number = 1,
volume = 747,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 2012},
month = {Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 2012}
}