Physics
Scientific paper
Apr 1998
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1998aps..apr..m805l&link_type=abstract
American Physical Society, APS/AAPT Joint April Meeting, April 18-21, 1998 Columbus, Ohio, abstract #M8.05
Physics
Scientific paper
The discovery using the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) of high frequency ( ~300--1200 Hz) oscillations in the X-ray brightness of some sixteen accreting neutron stars is providing important new constraints on the properties of neutron stars and dense matter. Pairs of kilohertz quasi-periodic brightness oscillations (QPOs) have been discovered in more than a dozen accreting neutron stars in low-mass binary systems. The frequency of the higher-frequency QPO in these kilohertz QPO pairs is thought to be the orbital frequency of gas in Keplerian orbit around the neutron star. If so, the observed frequencies of the kilohertz QPOs can be used to derive precise upper bounds on the masses and radii of these neutron stars and constrain the equation of state of neutron star matter. For example, the 1220 Hz QPO observed in the X-ray source 4U 1636-536 already constrains the mass and radius of this neutron star to be less than about 2.2 M_solar and 17 km, respectively. Tighter constraints are expected. Study of the kilohertz QPOs may also provide convincing evidence for an innermost stable circular orbit around some neutron stars, confirming one of the key predictions of general relativity in the strong-field regime and allowing a precise determination of the masses of these stars. Brightness oscillations with frequencies ~300--600 Hz have been discovered in more than half a dozen accreting neutron stars during thermonuclear X-ray bursts. The frequencies of these oscillations appear to be the spin frequency of the neutron star or its first overtone. The high ( ~20--50%) amplitudes of these oscillations, when coupled with analysis of burst development on time scales ~100 ms, are expected to provide significant additional constraints on the properties of neutron stars and dense matter.
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