Constraints to the EOS of ultradense matter with model-independent astrophysical observations

Abstract

The recent discovery of burst oscillations at 1122 Hz in the x-ray transient XTE J1739-285, together with the measurement of the mass of the binary millisecond pulsar PSR J0751+1807 (2.1 +- 0.2 solar masses) can finally allow us to put strong, model-independent observational constraints to the equation of state of compact stars. We show that the measurement of the moment of inertia of PSR J0737+3039A, together with these constraints, could allow to discriminate further the details of the inner structure of neutron stars. Moreover, we show that if XTE J1739-285 is constituted of nucleonic matter, any equation of state allows only a narrow range of very high masses, and this could explain why up to now compact stars spinning faster than a millisecond have been so difficult to detect.

arXiv comment4 pages, 1 colour figure, uses emulateapj class, submitted to ApJ Letters

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Prospects for measuring the moment of inertia of pulsar PSR J0737-3039A
• A compact star rotating at 1122 Hz and the r-mode instability
• 1122 Hz rotation of XTE J1739-285 as a probe of quark matter in the interior of the neutron star
• Some Applications of Binary Pulsars to Fundamental Physics
• Color superconducting quark matter in compact stars