FURTHER EVIDENCE FOR THE BIMODAL DISTRIBUTION OF NEUTRON-STAR MASSES
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Schwab-2010-FURTHER EVIDENCE FOR.pdf
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Author(s)
Schwab, J.
Podsiadlowski, Ph.
Rappaport, Saul A
Date Issued
July 2010
Journal
Astrophysical Journal
Publisher
IOP Publishing
Citation
Schwab, J., Ph. Podsiadlowski, and S. Rappaport. “FURTHER EVIDENCE FOR THE BIMODAL DISTRIBUTION OF NEUTRON-STAR MASSES.” The Astrophysical Journal 719, no. 1 (July 22, 2010): 722–727. © 2010 The American Astronomical Society
Version
Final published version
Abstract
We use a collection of 14 well-measured neutron-star masses to strengthen the case that a substantial fraction of these neutron stars were formed via electron-capture (e-capture) supernovae (SNe) as opposed to Fe core-collapse SNe. The e-capture SNe are characterized by lower resultant gravitational masses and smaller natal kicks, leading to lower orbital eccentricities when the e-capture SN has led to the formation of the second neutron star in a binary system. Based on the measured masses and eccentricities, we identify four neutron stars, which have a mean post-collapse gravitational mass of ~1.25 M [subscript ☉], as the product of e-capture SNe. We associate the remaining 10 neutron stars, which have a mean mass of ~1.35 M [subscript ☉], with Fe core-collapse SNe. If the e-capture SN occurs during the formation of the first neutron star, then this should substantially increase the formation probability for double neutron stars, given that more systems will remain bound with the smaller kicks. However, this does not appear to be the case for any of the observed systems and we discuss possible reasons for this.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research
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Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x/719/1/722
