Journal Club: Massive neutron star results from NICER

Fri., May. 28, 2021 3:30 p.m. - Fri., May. 28, 2021 4:30 p.m.

Location: Zoom

Abstract: Neutron stars are the stellar remnants of supernovae. Their extreme gravity presses their material to densities higher than that seen in nuclei on earth. As such, they are excellent laboratories for probing the equation of state in nuclear material at densities and pressures that are not achievable in the lab. Here we will discuss the recent measurement of PSR J0740+6620, which has a gravitational mass of 2.08±0.07 solar masses, the highest reliably determined mass of any neutron star. As a result, a measurement of its radius will provide unique insight into the properties of neutron star core matter at high densities. Here we discuss a radius measurement based on fits of rotating hot spot patterns to Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) and X-ray Multi-Mirror (XMM-Newton) X-ray observations.

Journal Article "The radius of PSR J0740+6620 from NICER and XMM-Newton data"

Speaker: Nathan Heinrich, University of Regina