Observational and evolutionary studies of neutron star X-ray binaries
Name
827279430-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
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17.7 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
7e2bba1628b01730ecc193ad44a6a272
Author(s)
Lin, Jinrong, Ph. D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Advisor(s)
Deepto Chakrabarty and Saul Rappaport.
Date Issued
2011
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
In this thesis, we present our observational and evolutionary studies of neutron stars in X-ray binary systems. A variety of topics are discussed, which are all related by a single scientific theme, namely, helping to set constraints on the mass-radius relation of neutron stars, and hence on their equations of state (EOS). In Chapter 1 we review the current neutron star masses M and radii R measurement techniques utilizing the X-ray observation of neutron stars in binaries. These techniques fall into two categories: timing and spectral analysis. In Chapter 2 we present our spectral and timing analysis of 4U 2129+47. We show that 4U 2129+47 might be in a hierarchical triple system. The source has been dropping into deeper quiescence during the last decade. The absence of the power-law hard tail in its X-ray spectrum make it a good candidate for measuring neutron star radius. In Chapter 3 we present our analysis of EXO 0748-676. We show that the previously reported narrow absorption lines are inconsistent with the detected high amplitude of the 552 Hz burst oscillations. In Chapter 4 we present our semi-numerical method of evaluating the significance of burst oscillations. With this method, we searched 1187 archived RXTE Type-I X-ray bursts for high frequency oscillation modes. In Chapter 5, we present our evolutionary study of the most massive neutron star that has been recently found: PSR J1614-2230. The study has been carried out with the recently developed star evolution code "MESA". We We have computed an extensive grid of binary evolution tracks to represent low- and intermediate-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs and IMXBs). The general results will be presented in Chapter 6.
Description
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Physics, 2011.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 117-125).
Subjects
Physics.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
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