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The distance and radius of the neutron star psr b0656+14

Brisken, Walter F.
; 
Thorsett, S. E.
; 
Golden, A.
; 
Goss, W. M.
Repository DOI
Publication Date
2003-07-18
Keywords
astrometry, equation of state, pulsars : individual (psr b0656+14), stars : neutron, space-telescope observations, psr b0656+14, model atmospheres, pulsar parallaxes, psr-0656+14, emission
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Article
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Citation
Brisken, Walter F. Thorsett, S. E.; Golden, A.; Goss, W. M. (2003). The distance and radius of the neutron star psr b0656+14. The Astrophysical Journal 593 (2), L89-L92
Abstract
We present the result of astrometric observations of the radio pulsar PSR B0656+14, made using the Very Long Baseline Array. The parallax of the pulsar is pi = 3.47 +/- 0.36 milliarcsec, yielding a distance 288(-27)(+33) pc. This independent distance estimate has been used to constrain existing models of thermal X-ray emission from the neutron star's photosphere. Simple blackbody fits to the X-ray data formally yield a neutron star radius R-infinity similar to 7-8.5 km. With more realistic fits to a magnetized hydrogen atmosphere, any radius between similar to13 and similar to20 km is allowed.
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Publisher
IOP Publishing
Publisher DOI
10.1086/378184
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Ireland
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Externally hosted open access publications with University of Galway authors (1)