Observations of Neutron Stars with NICER
Abstract
The Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) is an approved NASA Explorer Mission of Opportunity that will be deployed as an attached payload on the International Space Station in August of 2016. By virtue of its unprecedented combination of throughput and fast timing capabilities, NICER will enable an empirical determination of the neutron star equation of state via realistic modeling of the pulsed X-ray radiation from millisecond pulsars. In this talk, I will describe the NICER instrument and measurement techniques it will employ, as well as the expected constraints on neutron star structure, and by extension the behavior of matter at supra-nuclear densities.
- Publication:
-
41st COSPAR Scientific Assembly
- Pub Date:
- July 2016
- Bibcode:
- 2016cosp...41E.222B