A Definitive Test of Relativistic Disk Lines in Neutron Stars
Abstract
Accretion disks around neutron stars must be truncated at the stellar surface. If neutron star spectra contain relativistic lines from the inner disk, these lines could then give constraints on stellar radii and the neutron star equation of state. Such lines have recently been claimed in many sources. However, other work has brought the nature of these lines into question, largely owing to instrumental effects such as photon pile-up. The resolution of the HETG is ideally suited to testing the nature of such lines, and it is uniquely resistant to photon pile-up when the ACIS array is run in 'CC' mode. As a unified group of six teams, we request a 300 ksec observation of Serpens X-1 to definitively resolve the nature of iron lines in neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries.
- Publication:
-
Chandra Proposal
- Pub Date:
- September 2013
- Bibcode:
- 2013cxo..prop.3883C