Constraining the equation of state of supra-nuclear dense matter from XMM-Newton observations of neutron stars in globular clusters

TL;DR

This study uses XMM-Newton observations of neutron stars in globular clusters to tightly constrain their masses and radii, thereby narrowing down the possible equations of state for dense nuclear matter.

Contribution

It introduces improved hydrogen atmosphere models with variable surface gravity to more accurately determine neutron star properties from X-ray spectra.

Findings

Neutron star radii constrained between 8 km and 12 km.

Masses up to 2.4 solar masses are supported.

Previous models underestimated masses and overestimated radii.

Abstract

We report on the detailed modelling of the X-ray spectra of three likely neutron stars. The neutron stars, observed with XMM-Newton are found in three quiescent X-ray binaries in the globular clusters: omega Cen, M 13 and NGC 2808. Whether they are accreting at very low rates or radiating energy from an accretion heated core, their X-ray spectra are expected to be those of a hydrogen atmosphere. We use and compare publicly available hydrogen atmosphere models, with constant and varying surface gravities to constrain the masses and radii of the neutron stars. Thanks to the high XMM-Newton throughput, and the accurate distances available for these clusters, using the latest science analysis software release and calibration of the XMM-Newton EPIC cameras, we derive the most stringent constraints on the masses and radii of the neutron stars obtained to date from these systems. A comparison of the models indicate that previously used hydrogen atmosphere models (assuming constant surface gravity) tend to underestimate the mass and overestimate the radius of neutron stars. Our data constrain the allowed equations of state to those which concern normal nucleonic matter and one possible strange quark matter model, thus constraining radii to be from 8 km and masses up to 2.4 M$_\odot$.