The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

A NICER view of PSR J0030+0451: Millisecond pulsar parameter estimation

A NICER view of PSR J0030+0451: Millisecond pulsar parameter estimation
A NICER view of PSR J0030+0451: Millisecond pulsar parameter estimation
We report on Bayesian parameter estimation of the mass and equatorial radius of the millisecond pulsar PSR J0030+0451, conditional on pulse-profile modeling of Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer X-ray spectral-timing event data. We perform relativistic ray-tracing of thermal emission from hot regions of the pulsar's surface. We assume two distinct hot regions based on two clear pulsed components in the phase-folded pulse-profile data; we explore a number of forms (morphologies and topologies) for each hot region, inferring their parameters in addition to the stellar mass and radius. For the family of models considered, the evidence (prior predictive probability of the data) strongly favors a model that permits both hot regions to be located in the same rotational hemisphere. Models wherein both hot regions are assumed to be simply connected circular single-temperature spots, in particular those where the spots are assumed to be reflection-symmetric with respect to the stellar origin, are strongly disfavored. For the inferred configuration, one hot region subtends an angular extent of only a few degrees (in spherical coordinates with origin at the stellar center) and we are insensitive to other structural details; the second hot region is far more azimuthally extended in the form of a narrow arc, thus requiring a larger number of parameters to describe. The inferred mass M and equatorial radius R eq are, respectively, ${1.34}_{-0.16}^{+0.15}\,{M}_{\odot }$ and ${12.71}_{-1.19}^{+1.14}\,\mathrm{km}$, while the compactness ${GM}/{R}_{\mathrm{eq}}{c}^{2}={0.156}_{-0.010}^{+0.008}$ is more tightly constrained; the credible interval bounds reported here are approximately the 16% and 84% quantiles in marginal posterior mass.
2041-8205
Riley, Thomas E.
fb72d2bc-54e5-4cbd-a3ee-93b0954e8ad3
Watts, Anna L.
8c906b14-9fb9-4f04-9cb3-2aabd6561162
Bogdanov, Slavko
39f20582-4d71-4b1a-ae2a-b266367341ef
Ray, Paul S.
773c1940-2b53-4871-8176-c363521bb83f
Ludlam, Renee M.
b27b6ff8-9743-49f2-833a-115803efa43a
Guillot, Sebastien
26b90302-d8b3-4b06-9254-d3327cac3ccc
Arzoumanian, Zaven
5befbba6-f6a1-47c8-ae9e-021c5d854a64
Baker, C.
a1f610aa-4d5b-4094-bc6f-3bec0ca2189d
Bilous, A.
b75aab9c-6317-4bfc-89fd-33d9ce729404
Chakrabarty, Deepto
322198a5-4c3a-4369-99ee-b66befa6a518
Gendreau, Keith C.
cad26609-b22d-4c1d-ada3-4af51e2cd780
Harding, Alice K.
8343154a-9dbd-4454-ae91-feca27dff912
Ho, Wynn C.G.
d78d4c52-8f92-4846-876f-e04a8f803a45
Lattimer, James M.
443276d9-5096-488e-998e-b7160083cfdc
Morsink, Sharon
b5dbdf8d-5563-4368-90da-3500e6de0fd5
Strohmayer, Tod E.
09bbe020-7c6f-496b-a058-51385cf48f85
Riley, Thomas E.
fb72d2bc-54e5-4cbd-a3ee-93b0954e8ad3
Watts, Anna L.
8c906b14-9fb9-4f04-9cb3-2aabd6561162
Bogdanov, Slavko
39f20582-4d71-4b1a-ae2a-b266367341ef
Ray, Paul S.
773c1940-2b53-4871-8176-c363521bb83f
Ludlam, Renee M.
b27b6ff8-9743-49f2-833a-115803efa43a
Guillot, Sebastien
26b90302-d8b3-4b06-9254-d3327cac3ccc
Arzoumanian, Zaven
5befbba6-f6a1-47c8-ae9e-021c5d854a64
Baker, C.
a1f610aa-4d5b-4094-bc6f-3bec0ca2189d
Bilous, A.
b75aab9c-6317-4bfc-89fd-33d9ce729404
Chakrabarty, Deepto
322198a5-4c3a-4369-99ee-b66befa6a518
Gendreau, Keith C.
cad26609-b22d-4c1d-ada3-4af51e2cd780
Harding, Alice K.
8343154a-9dbd-4454-ae91-feca27dff912
Ho, Wynn C.G.
d78d4c52-8f92-4846-876f-e04a8f803a45
Lattimer, James M.
443276d9-5096-488e-998e-b7160083cfdc
Morsink, Sharon
b5dbdf8d-5563-4368-90da-3500e6de0fd5
Strohmayer, Tod E.
09bbe020-7c6f-496b-a058-51385cf48f85

Riley, Thomas E., Watts, Anna L., Bogdanov, Slavko, Ray, Paul S., Ludlam, Renee M., Guillot, Sebastien, Arzoumanian, Zaven, Baker, C., Bilous, A., Chakrabarty, Deepto, Gendreau, Keith C., Harding, Alice K., Ho, Wynn C.G., Lattimer, James M., Morsink, Sharon and Strohmayer, Tod E. (2019) A NICER view of PSR J0030+0451: Millisecond pulsar parameter estimation. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 887 (1), [L21]. (doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ab481c).

Record type: Article

Abstract

We report on Bayesian parameter estimation of the mass and equatorial radius of the millisecond pulsar PSR J0030+0451, conditional on pulse-profile modeling of Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer X-ray spectral-timing event data. We perform relativistic ray-tracing of thermal emission from hot regions of the pulsar's surface. We assume two distinct hot regions based on two clear pulsed components in the phase-folded pulse-profile data; we explore a number of forms (morphologies and topologies) for each hot region, inferring their parameters in addition to the stellar mass and radius. For the family of models considered, the evidence (prior predictive probability of the data) strongly favors a model that permits both hot regions to be located in the same rotational hemisphere. Models wherein both hot regions are assumed to be simply connected circular single-temperature spots, in particular those where the spots are assumed to be reflection-symmetric with respect to the stellar origin, are strongly disfavored. For the inferred configuration, one hot region subtends an angular extent of only a few degrees (in spherical coordinates with origin at the stellar center) and we are insensitive to other structural details; the second hot region is far more azimuthally extended in the form of a narrow arc, thus requiring a larger number of parameters to describe. The inferred mass M and equatorial radius R eq are, respectively, ${1.34}_{-0.16}^{+0.15}\,{M}_{\odot }$ and ${12.71}_{-1.19}^{+1.14}\,\mathrm{km}$, while the compactness ${GM}/{R}_{\mathrm{eq}}{c}^{2}={0.156}_{-0.010}^{+0.008}$ is more tightly constrained; the credible interval bounds reported here are approximately the 16% and 84% quantiles in marginal posterior mass.

Text
1912.05702 - Accepted Manuscript
Download (27MB)

More information

Accepted/In Press date: 25 September 2019
Published date: 12 December 2019

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 436750
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/436750
ISSN: 2041-8205
PURE UUID: c244d2df-f4a9-449a-91fc-e1bf1167f892
ORCID for Wynn C.G. Ho: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-6089-6836

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 03 Jan 2020 17:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 05:50

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Thomas E. Riley
Author: Anna L. Watts
Author: Slavko Bogdanov
Author: Paul S. Ray
Author: Renee M. Ludlam
Author: Sebastien Guillot
Author: Zaven Arzoumanian
Author: C. Baker
Author: A. Bilous
Author: Deepto Chakrabarty
Author: Keith C. Gendreau
Author: Alice K. Harding
Author: Wynn C.G. Ho ORCID iD
Author: James M. Lattimer
Author: Sharon Morsink
Author: Tod E. Strohmayer

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×