Friday 5 May 2023, at 11:00
Speaker: Tuomo Salmi Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy, University of Amsterdam
Abstract: X-ray pulses of rapidly rotating neutron stars (NSs) can be used to probe the equation of state (EoS) of high-density matter inside a NS. During the last few years, NICER telescope has successfully applied this technique to two millisecond pulsars; PSR J0030+0451 and PSR J0740+6620, and more sources are still being analyzed. Constraints on the EoSare obtained by measuring the mass and radius of the NS based on the relativistic effects when photons travel from the stellar surface to the observer. In this talk, I will present how good knowledge of the background signal and NS atmospheric effects is important for this analysis. In addition, I will discuss the prospects of applying the pulse profile modeling method to different types of millisecond pulsars and using X-ray polarimetry to further improve the mass and radius constraints.