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Rejecting proposed dense-matter equations of state with quiescent low-mass X-ray binaries

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 نشر من قبل Sebastien Guillot
 تاريخ النشر 2014
  مجال البحث فيزياء
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Neutrons stars are unique laboratories to discriminate between the various proposed equations of state of matter at and above nuclear density. One sub-class of neutron stars - those inside quiescent low-mass X-ray binaries (qLMXBs) - produce a thermal surface emission from which the neutron star radius (R_NS) can be measured, using the widely accepted observational scenario for qLMXBs, assuming unmagnetized H atmospheres. In a combined spectral analysis, this work first reproduces a previously published measurement of the rns, assumed to be the same for all neutron stars, using a slightly expanded data set. The radius measured is R_NS = 9.4 +/-1.2 km. On the basis of spectral analysis alone, this measured value is not affected by imposing an assumption of causality in the core. However, the assumptions underlying this R_NS measurement would be falsified by the observation of any neutron star with a mass >2.6 Msun, since radii <11 km would be rejected if causality is assumed, which would exclude most of the R_NS parameter space obtained in this analysis. Finally, this work directly tests a selection of dense matter equations of states: WFF1, AP4, MPA1, PAL1, MS0, and thr

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This paper presents a new analysis of the thermal emission from the neutron star surface to constrain the dense matter equation of state. It is based on the use of a Markov-Chain Monte Carlo algorithm combined with an empirical parametrization of the equation of state, as well as the consistent treatment of seven neutron star quiescent low-mass X-ray binaries in globular clusters with well-measured distances. Previous analyses have indicated that the thermal emission of these neutron stars tends to prefer low neutron star radii, questioning basic knowledge from nuclear physics. We show that it is possible to reconcile the thermal emission analyses with nuclear physics knowledge, with or without including a prior on the slope of the symmetry energy $L_{rm sym}$. We obtain radii of the order of about 12~km without worsening the fit statistic. With an empirical parametrization of the equation of state, we obtain the following values for the slope of the symmetry energy, its curvature $K_{rm sym}$, and the isoscalar skewness parameter $Q_{rm sat}$: $L_{rm sym}=37.2^{+9.2}_{-8.9}$ MeV, $K_{rm sym}=-85^{+82}_{-70}$ MeV, and $Q_{rm sat}=318^{+673}_{-366}$ MeV. For the first time, we measure the values of the empirical parameters $K_{rm sym}$ and $Q_{rm sat}$. These values are only weakly impacted by our assumptions, such as the distances or the number of free empirical parameters, provided they are taken within a reasonable range. We also study the weak sensitivity of our results to the set of sources analyzed, and we identify a group of sources that dominates the constraints. The resulting masses and radii obtained are also discussed in the context of the independent constraints from GW 170817 and its electromagnetic counterpart, AT 2017gfo.
This paper presents the measurement of the neutron star (NS) radius using the thermal spectra from quiescent low-mass X-ray binaries (qLMXBs) inside globular clusters (GCs). Recent observations of NSs have presented evidence that cold ultra dense mat ter -- present in the core of NSs -- is best described by normal matter equations of state (EoSs). Such EoSs predict that the radii of NSs, Rns, are quasi-constant (within measurement errors, of ~10%) for astrophysically relevant masses (Mns > 0.5 Msun). The present work adopts this theoretical prediction as an assumption, and uses it to constrain a single Rns value from five qLMXB targets with available high signal-to-noise X-ray spectroscopic data. Employing a Markov-Chain Monte-Carlo approach, we produce the marginalized posterior distribution for Rns, constrained to be the same value for all five NSs in the sample. An effort was made to include all quantifiable sources of uncertainty into the uncertainty of the quoted radius measurement. These include the uncertainties in the distances to the GCs, the uncertainties due to the Galactic absorption in the direction of the GCs, and the possibility of a hard power-law spectral component for count excesses at high photon energy, which are observed in some qLMXBs in the Galactic plane. Using conservative assumptions,we found that the radius, common to the five qLMXBs and constant for a wide range of masses, lies in the low range of possible NS radii, Rns=9.1(+1.3)(-1.5) km (90%-confidence). Such a value is consistent with low-res equations of state. We compare this result with previous radius measurements of NSs from various analyses of different types of systems. In addition, we compare the spectral analyses of individual qLMXBs to previous works.
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