Soft equations of state for neutron-star matter ruled out by EXO 0748 - 676
F. Özel ()
Additional contact information
F. Özel: University of Arizona
Nature, 2006, vol. 441, issue 7097, 1115-1117
Abstract:
Inside a neutron star The neutron star EXO 0748–676 is unusual for a low-mass X-ray binary in that redshifted oxygen and iron spectral lines are present in light emitted from its surface. Matter in neutron stars is extremely dense, in a state that differs considerably from that found in the early Universe or in experimental systems on Earth, and astrophysical observation is the only way of probing this material. The multiple signals from EXO 0748–676 provide that probe. Data from the RXTE, EXOSAT and XMM-Newton satellites have been used to calculate the star's mass and radius, and the findings rule out all the ‘soft’ equations of state for neutron stars. A ‘soft’ equation at a given temperature and density is indicative of a lower pressure than given by a ‘stiff’ equation. If EXO 0748-676 is typical, exotic condensates and unconfined quarks can be can be excluded from centre of neutron stars. Instead, relatively conventional equations of state apply, equivalent to a regime of neutrons and protons.
Date: 2006
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:
Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature04858 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:441:y:2006:i:7097:d:10.1038_nature04858
Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/
DOI: 10.1038/nature04858
Access Statistics for this article
Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper
More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().