Seminar: Probing dense matter in neutron stars via thermonuclear bursts

Duncan Galloway 

Monash University

Substantial uncertainty remains about the properties of matter at and above densities reached in the atomic nucleus. This uncertainty can largely be attributed to the inaccessibility of such conditions to laboratory-based experiments. Neutron stars, the dense remnants of supernova explosions in medium-sized stars, serve as (rather remote and inaccessible) “laboratories” in which to investigate this regime. In particular, space-based X-ray observations of thermonuclear bursts in neutron stars can lead to measurements of neutron star spin, as well as (in principle) constraints on the neutron star mass and radius, sufficient to constrain the (highly uncertain) equation of state. I will present a brief summary of current research in this area as well as some new results and outstanding issues which must be addressed.