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dc.contributor.authorPsaltis, Dimitrios
dc.contributor.authorOzel, Feryal
dc.contributor.authorChakrabarty, Deepto
dc.date.accessioned2014-07-11T17:04:58Z
dc.date.available2014-07-11T17:04:58Z
dc.date.issued2014-06
dc.date.submitted2013-12
dc.identifier.issn0004-637X
dc.identifier.issn1538-4357
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/88275
dc.description.abstractModeling the amplitudes and shapes of the X-ray pulsations observed from hot, rotating neutron stars provides a direct method for measuring neutron-star properties. This technique constitutes an important part of the science case for the forthcoming NICER and proposed LOFT X-ray missions. In this paper, we determine the number of distinct observables that can be derived from pulse profile modeling and show that using only bolometric pulse profiles is insufficient for breaking the degeneracy between inferred neutron-star radius and mass. However, we also show that for moderately spinning (300-800 Hz) neutron stars, analysis of pulse profiles in two different energy bands provides additional constraints that allow a unique determination of the neutron-star properties. Using the fractional amplitudes of the fundamental and the second harmonic of the pulse profile in addition to the amplitude and phase difference of the spectral color oscillations, we quantify the signal-to-noise ratio necessary to achieve a specified measurement precision for neutron star radius. We find that accumulating 10[superscript 6] counts in a pulse profile is sufficient to achieve a lsim 5% uncertainty in the neutron star radius, which is the level of accuracy required to determine the equation of state of neutron-star matter. Finally, we formally derive the background limits that can be tolerated in the measurements of the various pulsation amplitudes as a function of the system parameters.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipNational Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF grant AST-1108753)en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipNational Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF CAREER award AST-0746549)en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipNational Science Foundation (U.S.) (Chandra Theory grant TM2-13002X)en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipRadcliffe Institute for Advanced Studyen_US
dc.description.sponsorshipHarvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Theoretical Astrophysics Division. Institute for Theory and Computationen_US
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherAmerican Astronomical Societyen_US
dc.relation.isversionofhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/787/2/136en_US
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alikeen_US
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/en_US
dc.sourcearXiven_US
dc.titlePROSPECTS FOR MEASURING NEUTRON-STAR MASSES AND RADII WITH X-RAY PULSE PROFILE MODELINGen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
dc.identifier.citationPsaltis, Dimitrios, Feryal Özel, and Deepto Chakrabarty. “PROSPECTS FOR MEASURING NEUTRON-STAR MASSES AND RADII WITH X-RAY PULSE PROFILE MODELING.” The Astrophysical Journal 787, no. 2 (June 1, 2014): 136.en_US
dc.contributor.departmentMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physicsen_US
dc.contributor.mitauthorChakrabarty, Deeptoen_US
dc.relation.journalAstrophysical Journalen_US
dc.eprint.versionAuthor's final manuscripten_US
dc.type.urihttp://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticleen_US
eprint.statushttp://purl.org/eprint/status/PeerRevieweden_US
dspace.orderedauthorsPsaltis, Dimitrios; Özel, Feryal; Chakrabarty, Deeptoen_US
dc.identifier.orcidhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-8804-8946
mit.licenseOPEN_ACCESS_POLICYen_US
mit.metadata.statusComplete


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