Estimating Mass and Radius of a Neutron Star in Low-Mass X-ray Binary

  • Published : 2019.04.10

Abstract

Mass and radius of a neutron star in low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) can be estimated simultaneously when the observed light curve and spectrum show the photospheric radius expansion feature. This method has been applied to 4U 1746-37 and the mass and radius were found to be unusually small in comparison with typical neutron stars. We re-estimate the mass and radius of this target by considering that the observed light curve and spectrum can be affected by other X-ray sources because this LMXB belongs to a very crowded globular cluster NGC 6441. The new estimation increases the mass and radius but they do not reach the typical values yet.

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