Bragg diffraction and the iron crust of cold neutron stars |
| |
Authors: | Felipe J Llanes-Estrada and Gaspar Moreno-Navarro |
| |
Institution: | (1) University of British Columbia, 6224 Agricultural Road, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6T 1Z1 |
| |
Abstract: | If cooled-down neutron stars have a thin atomic crystalline–iron crust, they must diffract X-rays of appropriate wavelength.
If the diffracted beam is to be visible from Earth (an extremely rare but possible situation), the illuminating source must
be very intense and near the reflecting star. An example is a binary system composed of two neutron stars in close orbit,
one of them inert, the other an X-ray pulsar. (Perhaps an “anomalous” X-ray pulsar or magnetar, not powered by gas absorption
from the companion or surrounding space, would be the cleanest example.) The observable to be searched for is a secondary
peak added (quasi-) periodically to the main X-ray pulse. The distinguishing feature of this secondary peak is that it appears
at wavelengths related by simple integer numbers, λ,λ/2,λ/3,…,λ/n because of Bragg’s diffraction law. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|