Related papers: Determining neutron star masses with weak microlen…
Most stellar remnants so far have been found in binary systems, where they interact with matter from their companions. Isolated neutron stars and black holes are difficult to find as they are dark, yet they are predicted to exist in our…
In recent years, the number of pulsars with secure mass measurements has increased to a level that allows us to probe the underlying neutron star mass distribution in detail. We critically review radio pulsar mass measurements and present a…
Bursting X-ray binaries in globular clusters are ideal sources for measuring neutron star masses and radii, and hence, for determining the equation of state of cold, ultradense matter. We use time-resolved spectroscopic data from EXO…
It is believed that cores of neutron stars provide a natural laboratory where exotic high baryon density QCD phases may exist.The theoretically well established {\it neutron superfluid phase} is also believed to be found only inside neutron…
Strong gravitational lensing can provide accurate measurements of the stellar mass-to-light ratio $\Upsilon$ in low-redshift ($z$ $\lesssim$ 0.05) early-type galaxies, and hence probe for possible variations in the stellar initial mass…
In this review, I discuss the use of galaxy-galaxy weak lensing measurements to study the masses of dark matter halos in which galaxies reside. After summarizing how weak gravitational lensing measurements can be interpreted in terms of…
Observational identification of black holes as members of binary systems requires the knowledge of the upper limit on the gravitational mass of a neutron star. We use modern equations of state for neutron star matter, fitted to experimental…
Gravitational lensing allows us to probe the structure of matter on a broad range of astronomical scales, and as light from a distant source traverses an intervening galaxy, compact matter such as planets, stars, and black holes act as…
The properties of neutron stars are determined by the nature of the matter that they contain. These properties can be constrained by measurements of the star's size. We obtain stringent constraints on neutron-star radii by combining…
Among a dozen known magnetar candidates there are no binary objects. As an estimate of a fraction of binary neutron stars is about 10% it is reasonable to address the question of solitarity of magnetars, to estimate theoretically the…
We consider the gravitational magnification of light for binary systems containing two compact objects: white dwarfs, a white dwarf and a neutron star or a white dwarf and a black hole. Light curves of the flares of the white dwarf caused…
Stellar mass black hole binaries have individual masses between 10-80 solar masses. These systems may emit gravitational waves at frequencies detectable at Megaparsec distances by space-based gravitational wave observatories. In a previous…
We discuss a possible method for detection of dark companions of galactic objects of stellar mass. Such binary systems are likely to occur in the galactic disk and possibly also in the halo. The high incidence of binary and…
Rapidly rotating neutron stars are promising sources of continuous gravitational wave radiation for the LIGO and Virgo interferometers. The majority of neutron stars in our galaxy have not been identified with electromagnetic observations.…
X-ray pulsars experiencing extreme mass accretion rates can produce neutrino emission in the MeV energy band. Neutrinos in these systems are emitted in close proximity to the stellar surface and subsequently undergo gravitational bending in…
The maximum mass of a neutron star (NS) is poorly defined. Theoretical attempts to define this mass have thus far been unsuccessful. Observational results currently provide the only means of narrowing this mass range down. Eclipsing X-ray…
We investigate the possibility of identifying massive objects (lenses) in the Galactic Center region (GC) by means of pulsar timing. The well known intensity change due to microlensing is found to be less important. For typical stellar…
The known nearby stars, moving in front of the background of distant stars and galaxies, create 'weak gravitational lensing' variations in their positions. These variations may be measurable with the HST, and they may allow a direct mass…
The observable macroscopic properties of relativistic stars (whose equations of state are known) can be predicted by solving the stellar structure equations that follow from Einstein's equation. For neutron stars, however, our knowledge of…
This talk reviews the constraints imposed by binary-pulsar data on gravity theories, and notably on "scalar-tensor" theories which are the most natural alternatives to general relativity. Because neutron stars have a strong gravitational…