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Scientific paper
Jul 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001hst..prop.9063v&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #9063
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Hst Proposal Id #9063 Hot Stars
Scientific paper
There has been gradual recognition of neutron stars as laboratories to test our understanding of both quantum chromodynamics {QCD} and quantum electrodynamics {QED}. Specifically, the measurement of radii of neutron stars can test QCD at high density. This is being realized through intensive X-ray observations of bright nearby neutron stars. However, the natures of these important sources are not clear and to this end we propose a simple proper motion program as a means to obtain their ages and potential association with star-forming regions. One of the sources is RX J0720.4-3125 which has been argued to be an old magnetar -- a highly magnetized neutron star -- and thanks to its high count rate is already a choice object for X-ray missions. Magnetars, with their extreme magnetic field strengths, are excellent laboratories for testing out some expectation of QED. We show how UV observations can be combined with optical and X-ray observations to demonstrate the magnetar nature of the source. The other sources are the brightest of the nearby neutron stars that currently lack optical identifications. For these we will first detect them and then perform accurate astrometry so that future observations will yield birth locations.
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