Simultaneous Constraints on the Mass and Radius of Aql X–1 from Quiescence and X-Ray Burst Observations
- Department of Physics, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan, 411105 (China)
- International Space Science Institute, Hallerstrasse 6, 3012 Bern (Switzerland)
- Department of Astronomy, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875 (China)
- Laboratory for Particle Astrophysics, Institute of High Energy Physics, CAS, Beijing 100049 (China)
- Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University, Beijing 100871 (China)
The measurement of neutron star mass and radius is one of the most direct ways to distinguish between various dense matter equations of state. The mass and radius of accreting neutron stars hosted in low-mass X-ray binaries can be constrained by several methods, including photospheric radius expansion from type I X-ray bursts and from quiescent spectra. In this paper, we apply for the first time these two methods simultaneously to constrain the mass and radius of Aql X–1. The quiescent spectra from Chandra and XMM-Newton , and photospheric radius expansion bursts from RXTE are used. The determination of the mass and radius of Aql X–1 is also used to verify the consistency between the two methods and to narrow down the uncertainties of the neutron star mass and radius. It is found that the distance to Aql X–1 should be in the range of 4.0–5.75 kpc, based on the overlapping confidence regions between photospheric radius expansion burst and quiescent spectra methods. In addition, we show that the mass and radius determined for the compact star in Aql X–1 are compatible with strange star equations of state and conventional neutron star models.
- OSTI ID:
- 22663297
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 845, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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