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Title: Pulse profiles from spinning neutron stars in the Hartle-Thorne approximation

Abstract

We present a new numerical algorithm for the calculation of pulse profiles from spinning neutron stars in the Hartle-Thorne approximation. Our approach allows us to formally take into account the effects of Doppler shifts and aberration, of frame dragging, as well as of the oblateness of the stellar surface and of its quadrupole moment. We confirm an earlier result that neglecting the oblateness of the neutron-star surface leads to ≅ 5%-30% errors in the calculated profiles and further show that neglecting the quadrupole moment of its spacetime leads to ≅ 1%-5% errors at a spin frequency of ≅ 600 Hz. We discuss the implications of our results for the measurements of neutron-star masses and radii with upcoming X-ray missions, such as NASA's NICER and ESA's LOFT.

Authors:
;  [1]
  1. Also at Institute for Theory and Computation, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. (United States)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
22365132
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Astrophysical Journal
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 792; Journal Issue: 2; 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; ALGORITHMS; APPROXIMATIONS; DOPPLER EFFECT; GRAVITATION; MASS; NASA; NEUTRON STARS; NEUTRONS; PULSES; QUADRUPOLE MOMENTS; SPACE-TIME; SPIN; SURFACES; X RADIATION

Citation Formats

Psaltis, Dimitrios, and Özel, Feryal. Pulse profiles from spinning neutron stars in the Hartle-Thorne approximation. United States: N. p., 2014. Web. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/792/2/87.
Psaltis, Dimitrios, & Özel, Feryal. Pulse profiles from spinning neutron stars in the Hartle-Thorne approximation. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/792/2/87
Psaltis, Dimitrios, and Özel, Feryal. 2014. "Pulse profiles from spinning neutron stars in the Hartle-Thorne approximation". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/792/2/87.
@article{osti_22365132,
title = {Pulse profiles from spinning neutron stars in the Hartle-Thorne approximation},
author = {Psaltis, Dimitrios and Özel, Feryal},
abstractNote = {We present a new numerical algorithm for the calculation of pulse profiles from spinning neutron stars in the Hartle-Thorne approximation. Our approach allows us to formally take into account the effects of Doppler shifts and aberration, of frame dragging, as well as of the oblateness of the stellar surface and of its quadrupole moment. We confirm an earlier result that neglecting the oblateness of the neutron-star surface leads to ≅ 5%-30% errors in the calculated profiles and further show that neglecting the quadrupole moment of its spacetime leads to ≅ 1%-5% errors at a spin frequency of ≅ 600 Hz. We discuss the implications of our results for the measurements of neutron-star masses and radii with upcoming X-ray missions, such as NASA's NICER and ESA's LOFT.},
doi = {10.1088/0004-637X/792/2/87},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22365132}, journal = {Astrophysical Journal},
issn = {0004-637X},
number = 2,
volume = 792,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Sep 10 00:00:00 EDT 2014},
month = {Wed Sep 10 00:00:00 EDT 2014}
}