Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2008-11-25
Astrophys.J.712:964-973, 2010
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
ApJ in print. Resulting probability distributions of our measurements can be found at http://ice.as.arizona.edu/~ns
Scientific paper
10.1088/0004-637X/712/2/964
Low mass X-ray binaries that show thermonuclear bursts are ideal sources for constraining the equation of state of neutron star matter. The lack of independent distance measurements for most of these sources, however, prevents a systematic exploration of the masses and radii of the neutron stars, hence limiting the equation of state studies. We present here a measurement of the distance to the low mass X-ray binary 4U 1608-52 that is based on the study of the interstellar extinction towards the source. We first model the individual absorption edges of the elements Ne and Mg in the high resolution X-ray spectrum obtained with XMM-Newton. We then combine this information with a measurement of the run of reddening with distance using red clump stars and determine a minimum distance to the source of 3.9 kpc, with a most probable value of 5.8 kpc. Finally, we analyze time-resolved X-ray spectra of Type-I X-ray bursts observed from this source to measure the mass and the radius of the neutron star. We find a mass of M = 1.74 +/- 0.14 M_sun and a radius of R = 9.3 +/- 1.0 km, respectively. This mass and radius can be achieved by several multi-nucleon equations of state.
Cabrera-Lavers Antonio
Guver Tolga
Ozel Feryal
Wroblewski Patricia
No associations
LandOfFree
The Distance, Mass, and Radius of the Neutron Star in 4U 1608-52 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 The Distance, Mass, and Radius of the Neutron Star in 4U 1608-52, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Distance, Mass, and Radius of the Neutron Star in 4U 1608-52 will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-273535