What will eROSITA reveal among X-ray faint isolated neutron stars?

TL;DR

The paper discusses how eROSITA's upcoming all-sky X-ray survey will significantly enhance our understanding of faint, isolated neutron stars, revealing new insights into their evolution and properties.

Contribution

It analyzes the potential of eROSITA to detect and study X-ray faint neutron stars, addressing challenges and implications for neutron star evolution models.

Findings

eROSITA will detect previously unseen X-ray faint neutron stars

The survey will constrain neutron star evolutionary models

It will improve understanding of radio and gamma-ray silent neutron stars

Abstract

Since the discovery of the first radio pulsar fifty years ago, the population of neutron stars in our Galaxy has grown to over 2,600. A handful of these sources, exclusively seen in X-rays, show properties that are not observed in normal pulsars. Despite their scarcity, they are key to understanding aspects of the neutron star phenomenology and evolution. The forthcoming all-sky survey of eROSITA will unveil the X-ray faint end of the neutron star population at unprecedented sensitivity; therefore, it has the unique potential to constrain evolutionary models and advance our understanding of the sources that are especially silent in the radio and $\gamma$-ray regimes. In this contribution I discuss the expected role of eROSITA, and the challenges it will face, at probing the galactic neutron star population.