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  • MASS/RADIUS CONSTRAINTS ON ...
    Catuneanu, A; Heinke, C O; SIVAKOFF, G R; Ho, W C G; Servillat, M

    The Astrophysical journal, 02/2013, Letnik: 764, Številka: 2
    Journal Article

    The mass and radius of the neutron star (NS) in low-mass X-ray binaries can be obtained by fitting the X-ray spectrum of the NS in quiescence, and the mass and radius constrains the properties of dense matter in NS cores. A critical ingredient for spectral fits is the composition of the NS atmosphere: hydrogen atmospheres are assumed in most prior work, but helium atmospheres are possible if the donor star is a helium white dwarf. Here we perform spectral fits to XMM-Newton, Chandra, and ROSAT data of a quiescent NS in the globular cluster M13. This NS has the smallest inferred radius from previous spectral fitting. Assuming an atmosphere composed of hydrogen, we find a significantly larger radius, more consistent with those from other quiescent NSs. With a helium atmosphere (an equally acceptable fit), we find even larger values for the radius.