AAS 206th Meeting, 29 May - 2 June 2005
Session 17 Fundamental Physics with Millisecond Pulsars
Special Session, Monday, 10:00-11:30am, May 30, 2005, 102 C

Previous   |   Session 17   |   Next


[17.04] Accreting Millisecond Pulsars and Fundamental Physics

T. E. Strohmayer (NASA/GSFC)

X-ray emission from the surfaces of rapidly rotating neutron stars encodes information about their global properties as well as physical conditions locally. Detailed modelling of, for example, the energy dependent pulse profiles observed from accreting millisecond pulsars and thermonuclear burst oscillations can be used to derive constraints on the masses and radii of neutron stars. These measurements provide direct information on the properties of the dense matter equation of state of the supranuclear density matter in their interiors. Study of absorption lines created in the surface layers can also provide measurements of masses and radii, and may be able to probe aspects of relativistic gravity, such as frame dragging. I will discuss the results of recent efforts to carry out such measurements and their implications for the properties of dense matter.


Previous   |   Session 17   |   Next

Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 37 #2
© 2005. The American Astronomical Soceity.