Exploring the physics of neutron stars with high-resolution, high-throughput X-ray spectroscopy
Abstract
The advent of moderately high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy with Chandra and XMM promised to usher in a new age in the study of neutron stars: we thought we would study neutron stars like stars, with resolved absorption spectra revealing their surface chemical composition and physical conditions (e.g. surface gravity, pressure, temperature). Nature, however, did not cooperate in this endeavor, as observations of neutron stars have not revealed verified atomic absorption lines yet. In the near future, advancements in transition-edge sensors (TES) technology will allow for electron-volt-resolution spectroscopy combined with nanoseconds-precision timing. Combining these detectors with collector optics will also us to study neutron stars in much greater detail by achieving high-energy resolution with much larger collecting areas to uncover even weak spectral features over a wide range of the photon energies. Perhaps we will finally be able to study neutron stars like stars.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1903.06777,
title = {Exploring the physics of neutron stars with high-resolution, high-throughput X-ray spectroscopy},
author = {Jeremy Heyl and Ilaria Caiazzo and Samar Safi-Harb and Craig Heinke and Sharon Morsink and Edward Cackett and Alessandra De Rosa and Marco Feroci and Daniel S. Swetz and Andrea Damascelli and Pinder Dosanjh and Sarah Gallagher and Luigi Gallo and Daryl Haggard and Kelsey Hoffman and Adam R. Ingram and Demet Kirmizibayrak and Herman Marshall and Wolfgang Rau and Paul Ripoche and Gregory R. Sivakoff and Ingrid Stairs and Luigi Stella and Joel N. Ullom},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1903.06777},
year = {2019}
}
Comments
White paper submitted for Astro2020 Decadal Survey. 7 pages, 2 figures