Relativistic Astrophysics of Neutron Stars

中子星的相对论天体物理学

基本信息

批准号：
RGPIN-2019-06077
负责人：
Morsink, Sharon
金额：
$ 1.75万
依托单位：
University of Alberta
依托单位国家：
加拿大
项目类别：
Discovery Grants Program - Individual
财政年份：
2022
资助国家：
加拿大
起止时间：
2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=762540
关键词：
Relativistic Astrophysics Neutron Stars

项目摘要

Neutron stars and black holes are the most compact astrophysical objects in the universe. Their strong gravitational fields allow us to explore a regime of physics inaccessible in terrestrial experiments and to test theories of gravitational physics. Although black holes are reasonably simple objects to describe, neutron stars are considerably more difficult. This is because they are the densest configurations of matter possible which are stable to gravitational collapse. The density in the central core of a neutron star can be many times more dense than nuclear matter. Since experiments on Earth can't reproduce such high densities, the internal structure of a neutron star is not well understood. In particular, if it were possible to measure the size of a neutron star, it would help us understand the properties of supranuclear density matter. The main focus of this research proposal is a theoretical study of neutron star dynamics with an emphasis on the electromagnetic radiation they produce. Observations of light originating from systems containing neutron stars, such as pulsars, x-ray binaries, magnetars, and short gamma-ray bursters, provide a great wealth of data with which to compare theoretical predictions. The proposed research will involve computational studies of the propagation of light near rapidly rotating neutron stars in order to make theoretical predictions about relativistic effects (such as frame-dragging and gravitational lensing) which may be detectable by present-day and future proposed X-ray telescopes. This work will play an important role in measuring the size and other properties of many neutron stars allowing us to constrain the possible theories of dense nuclear matter which describe the interior of a neutron star.

中子星和黑洞是宇宙中最致密的天体物理物体。它们强大的引力场使我们能够探索陆地实验中无法达到的物理体系并测试引力物理理论。尽管黑洞是描述起来相当简单的物体，但中子星要困难得多。这是因为它们是可能的最致密的物质结构，对引力塌缩稳定。中子星中心的密度可能比核物质的密度高很多倍。由于地球上的实验无法重现如此高的密度，因此中子星的内部结构尚不清楚。特别是，如果能够测量中子星的大小，将有助于我们了解超核密度物质的特性。该研究计划的主要重点是中子星动力学的理论研究，重点是它们产生的电磁辐射。对源自包含中子星的系统（例如脉冲星、X射线双星、磁星和短伽马射线爆发）的光的观测，提供了大量数据来比较理论预测。拟议的研究将涉及快速旋转中子星附近的光传播的计算研究，以便对相对论效应（例如框架拖曳和引力透镜）进行理论预测，这些效应可以通过现在和未来提出的X射线检测到望远镜。这项工作将在测量许多中子星的大小和其他特性方面发挥重要作用，使我们能够限制描述中子星内部的致密核物质的可能理论。