Constraining the equation of state of neutron stars
Date: 15 December 2013
Satellite: LOFT
Copyright: ESA
LOFT will be the first mission to make precision measurements of mass (M) and radius (R) for a sufficiently large sample of neutron stars to enable reconstruction of the full functional form of the equation of state (EOS). An example of how LOFT might eventually achieve this is shown here. Constraints are shown from pulse profile modelling (red contours) of several hypothetical neutron stars, from a 1200 Hz intermittent pulsar (EOS must extend to the left of the blue line, as shown), and from seismic vibrations in a magnetar intermediate flare (blue box). In the scenario shown, the results from pulse profile modelling suggested a hybrid EOS (flattening at high mass, kink at intermediate mass). The spin and seismic data are consistent with this EOS. The best fit hybrid EOS is shown in black, other models in grey.