Sleuthing the Isolated Compact Stars
Abstract
In the early 1990's, isolated thermally-emitting neutron stars accreting from the interstellar medium were predicted to show up in their thousands in the ROSAT soft X-ray all-sky survey. The glut of sources would provide unprecedented opportunities for probing the equation of state of ultra-dense matter. Only seven objects have been firmly identified to date. The reasons for this discrepency are discussed and recent high resolution X-ray spectroscopic observations of these objects are described. Spectra of the brightest of the isolated neutron star candidates, RX J1856.5-3754, continue to present interpretational difficulties for current neutron star model atmospheres and alternative models are briefly discussed. RX J1856.5-3754 remains a valid quark star candidate.
- Publication:
-
Compact Stars: The Quest for New States of Dense Matter
- Pub Date:
- August 2004
- DOI:
- 10.1142/9789812702524_0004
- Bibcode:
- 2004csqn.conf...42D