Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2007-04-10
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
9 pages. Invited talk at `The Multicoloured Landscape of Compact Objects and their Explosive Origins', Cefalu', 2006 June 11-2
Scientific paper
10.1063/1.2774916
Six of the eight double neutron stars known in the Galactic disk have low orbital eccentricities (< 0.27) indicating that their second-born neutron stars received only very small velocity kicks at birth. This is similar to the case of the B-emission X-ray binaries, where a sizable fraction of the neutron stars received hardly any velocity kick at birth (Pfahl et al. 2002). The masses of the second-born neutron stars in five of the six low-eccentricity double neutron stars are remarkably low (between 1.18 and 1.30 Msun). It is argued that these low-mass, low-kick neutron stars were formed by the electron-capture collapse of the degenerate O-Ne-Mg cores of helium stars less massive than about 3.5 Msun, whereas the higher-mass, higher kick-velocity neutron stars were formed by the collapses of the iron cores of higher initial mass. The absence of low-velocity single young radio pulsars (Hobbs et al. 2005) is consistent with the model proposed by Podsiadlowski et al. (2004), in which the electron-capture collapse of degenerate O-Ne-Mg cores can only occur in binary systems, and not in single stars.
No associations
LandOfFree
Double Neutron Stars: Evidence For Two Different Neutron-Star Formation Mechanisms does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Double Neutron Stars: Evidence For Two Different Neutron-Star Formation Mechanisms, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Double Neutron Stars: Evidence For Two Different Neutron-Star Formation Mechanisms will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-207533