arXiv subjects

Simin Mahmoodifar

Publications and source records attributed to Simin Mahmoodifar.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2021

Constraining the Neutron Star Mass--Radius Relation and Dense Matter Equation of State with NICER. III. Model Description and Verification of Parameter Estimation Codes

We describe the X-ray pulse profile models we use, and how we use them, to analyze Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) observations of rotation-powered millisecond pulsars to obtain information about the mass-radius relation of neutron stars and the equation of state of the dense matter in their cores. Here we detail our modeling of the observed profile of PSR J0030+0451 that we analyzed in Miller et al. (2019) and Riley et al. (2019) and describe a cross-verification of computations of the pulse profiles of a star with R/M 3, in case stars this compact need to be considered in future analyses. We also present our early cross-verification efforts of the parameter estimation procedures used by Miller et al. (2019) and Riley et al. (2019) by analyzing two distinct synthetic data sets. Both codes yielded credible regions in the mass-radius plane that are statistically consistent with one another and both gave posterior distributions for model parameter values consistent with the values that were used to generate the data. We also summarize the additional tests of the parameter estimation procedure of Miller et al. (2019) that used synthetic pulse profiles and the NICER pulse profile of PSR J0030+0451. We then illustrate how the precision of mass and radius estimates depends on the pulsar's spin rate and the size of its hot spot by analyzing four different synthetic pulse profiles. Finally, we assess possible sources of systematic error in these estimates made using this technique, some of which may warrant further investigation.

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arXiv2019

Constraining the Neutron Star Mass-Radius Relation and Dense Matter Equation of State with NICER. II. Emission from Hot Spots on a Rapidly Rotating Neutron Star

We describe the model of surface emission from a rapidly rotating neutron star that is applied to Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer X-ray data of millisecond pulsars in order to statistically constrain the neutron star mass-radius relation and dense matter equation of state. To ensure that the associated calculations are both accurate and precise, we conduct an extensive suite of verification tests between our numerical codes for both the Schwarzschild + Doppler and Oblate Schwarzschild approximations, and compare both approximations against exact numerical calculations. We find superb agreement between the code outputs, as well as in comparison against a set of analytical and semi-analytical calculations, which combined with their speed, demonstrates that the codes are well-suited for large-scale statistical sampling applications. A set of verified, high-precision reference synthetic pulse profiles is provided to the community to facilitate testing of other independently developed codes.

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arXiv2019

NICER Observation of Unusual Burst Oscillations in 4U 1728-34

The Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) has observed seven thermonuclear X-ray bursts from the Low Mass X-ray Binary (LMXB) neutron star 4U 1728-34 from the start of the mission's operations until February of 2019. Three of these bursts show oscillations in their decaying tail with frequencies that are within 1 Hz of the previously detected burst oscillations from this source. Two of these burst oscillations have unusual properties: They have large fractional rms amplitudes of $ 48 \pm 9 \%$ and $ 46 \pm 9 \%$, and they are detected only at photon energies above 6 keV. By contrast, the third detected burst oscillation is compatible with previous observations of this source, with a fractional rms amplitude of $7.7 \pm 1.5\%$ rms in the 0.3 to 6.2 keV energy band. We discuss the implications of these large-amplitude burst oscillations, finding they are difficult to explain with the current theoretical models for X-ray burst tail oscillations.

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arXiv2018

Observatory science with eXTP

In this White Paper we present the potential of the enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry (eXTP) mission for studies related to Observatory Science targets. These include flaring stars, supernova remnants, accreting white dwarfs, low and high mass X-ray binaries, radio quiet and radio loud active galactic nuclei, tidal disruption events, and gamma-ray bursts. eXTP will be excellently suited to study one common aspect of these objects: their often transient nature. Developed by an international Consortium led by the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Science, the eXTP mission is expected to be launched in the mid 2020s.

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arXiv2018

Dense matter with eXTP

In this White Paper we present the potential of the Enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry (eXTP) mission for determining the nature of dense matter; neutron star cores host an extreme density regime which cannot be replicated in a terrestrial laboratory. The tightest statistical constraints on the dense matter equation of state will come from pulse profile modelling of accretion-powered pulsars, burst oscillation sources, and rotation-powered pulsars. Additional constraints will derive from spin measurements, burst spectra, and properties of the accretion flows in the vicinity of the neutron star. Under development by an international Consortium led by the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Science, the eXTP mission is expected to be launched in the mid 2020s.

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arXiv2018

NICER Discovers mHz Oscillations in the "Clocked" Burster GS 1826-238

We report the discovery with the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) of mHz X-ray brightness oscillations from the "clocked burster." NICER observed the source in the periods 2017 June 20 - 29, July 11 - 13, and September 9 - 15, for a total useful exposure of 34 ks. Two consecutive dwells obtained on 2017 September 9 revealed highly significant oscillations at a frequency of 8 mHz. The fractional, sinusoidal modulation amplitude increases from 0.7 % at 1 keV to approximately 2 % at 6 keV. Similar oscillations were also detected at lower significance in three additional dwells. The oscillation frequency and amplitude are consistent with those of mHz QPOs reported in other accreting neutron star systems. A thermonuclear X-ray burst was also observed on 2017 June 22. The burst properties and X-ray colors are both consistent with the source being in a soft spectral state during these observations, findings that are confirmed by ongoing monitoring with MAXI and SWIFT-BAT. Assuming that the mHz oscillations are associated with black body emission from the neutron star surface, modeling of the phase-resolved spectra shows that the oscillation is consistent with being produced by modulation of the temperature component of this emission. In this interpretation, the black body normalization, proportional to the emitting surface area, is consistent with being constant through the oscillation cycle. We place the observations in the context of the current theory of marginally stable burning and briefly discuss the potential for constraining neutron star properties using mHz oscillations.

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arXiv2018

NICER Discovers the Ultracompact Orbit of the Accreting Millisecond Pulsar IGR J17062-6143

We present results of recent Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer observations of the accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar IGR J17062-6143 that show that it resides in a circular, ultracompact binary with a 38 minute orbital period. NICER observed the source for approximately 26 ksec over a 5.3 day span in 2017 August, and again for 14 and 11 ksec in 2017 October and November, respectively. A power spectral analysis of the August exposure confirms the previous detection of pulsations at 163.656 Hz in Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer data, and reveals phase modulation due to orbital motion of the neutron star. A coherent search for the orbital solution using the Z^2 method finds a best-fitting circular orbit with a period of 2278.21 s (37.97 min), a projected semi-major axis of 0.00390 lt-sec, and a barycentric pulsar frequency of 163.6561105 Hz. This is currently the shortest known orbital period for an AMXP. The mass function is 9.12 e-8} solar masses, presently the smallest known for a stellar binary. The minimum donor mass ranges from about 0.005 - 0.007 solar masses, for a neutron star mass from 1.2 - 2 solar masses. Assuming mass transfer is driven by gravitational radiation, we find donor mass and binary inclination bounds of 0.0175 - 0.0155 solar masses and 19 deg < i < 27.5 deg, where the lower and upper bounds correspond to 1.4 and 2 solar mass neutron stars, respectively. Folding the data accounting for the orbital modulation reveals a sinusoidal profile with fractional amplitude 2.04 +- 0.11 % (0.3 - 3.2 keV).

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arXiv2018

NICER Detects a Soft X-ray Kilohertz Quasi-periodic Oscillation in 4U 0614+09

We report on the detection of a kilohertz quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) with the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER). Analyzing approximately 165 ks of NICER exposure on the X-ray burster 4U 0614+09, we detect multiple instances of a single-peak upper kHz QPO, with centroid frequencies that range from 400 Hz to 750 Hz. We resolve the kHz QPO as a function of energy, and measure, for the first time, the QPO amplitude below 2 keV. We find the fractional amplitude at 1 keV is on the order of 2% rms, and discuss the implications for the QPO emission process in the context of Comptonization models.

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arXiv2018

A NICER look at the Aql X-1 hard state

We report on a spectral-timing analysis of the neutron star low-mass X-ray binary Aql~X-1 with the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) on the International Space Station. Aql~X-1 was observed with NICER during a dim outburst in 2017 July, collecting approximately $50$ ks of good exposure. The spectral and timing properties of the source correspond to that of an (hard) extreme island state in the atoll classification. We find that the fractional amplitude of the low frequency ($<0.3$ Hz) band-limited noise shows a dramatic turnover as a function of energy: it peaks at 0.5 keV with nearly 5\% rms, drops to $12\%$ rms at 2 keV, and rises to $15\%$ rms at 10 keV. Through the analysis of covariance spectra, we demonstrate that band-limited noise exists in both the soft thermal emission and the power-law emission. Additionally, we measure hard time lags, indicating the thermal emission at $0.5$ keV leads the power-law emission at 10 keV on a timescale of $\sim100$ ms at $0.3$ Hz to $\sim10$ ms at $3$ Hz. Our results demonstrate that the thermal emission in the hard state is intrinsically variable, and driving the modulation of the higher energy power-law. Interpreting the thermal spectrum as disk emission, we find our results are consistent with the disk propagation model proposed for accretion onto black holes.

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arXiv2017

Where Are the r-modes? Chandra Observations of Millisecond Pulsars

We present the results of {\it Chandra} observations of two non-accreting millisecond pulsars, PSRs J1640$+$2224 (J1640) and J1709$+$2313 (J1709), with low inferred magnetic fields and spin-down rates in order to constrain their surface temperatures, obtain limits on the amplitude of unstable $r$-modes in them, and make comparisons with similar limits obtained for a sample of accreting low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) neutron stars. We detect both pulsars in the X-ray band for the first time. They are faint, with inferred soft X-ray fluxes ($0.3-3$ keV) of $\approx$ $6\times10^{-15}$ and $3\times 10^{-15}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ for J1640 and J1709, respectively. Spectral analysis assuming hydrogen atmosphere emission gives global effective temperature upper limits ($90\%$ confidence) of $3.3 - 4.3 \times 10^5$ K for J1640 and $3.6 - 4.7 \times 10^5$ K for J1709, where the low end of the range corresponds to canonical neutron stars ($M=1.4 M_{\odot}$), and the upper end corresponds to higher-mass stars ($M=2.21 M_{\odot}$). Under the assumption that $r$-mode heating provides the thermal support, we obtain dimensionless $r$-mode amplitude upper limits of $3.2 - 4.8 \times 10^{-8}$ and $1.8 - 2.8 \times 10^{-7}$ for J1640 and J1709, respectively, where again the low end of the range corresponds to lower-mass, canonical neutron stars ($M=1.4 M_{\odot}$). These limits are about an order of magnitude lower than those we derived previously for a sample of LMXBs, except for the accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar (AMXP) SAX J1808.4$-$3658, which has a comparable amplitude limit to J1640 and J1709.

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arXiv2016

X-ray Burst Oscillations: From Flame Spreading to the Cooling Wake

Type I X-ray bursts are thermonuclear flashes observed from the surfaces of accreting neutron stars (NSs) in Low Mass X-ray Binaries. Oscillations have been observed during the rise and/or decay of some of these X-ray bursts. Those seen during the rise can be well explained by a spreading hot spot model, but large amplitude oscillations in the decay phase remain mysterious because of the absence of a clear-cut source of asymmetry. To date there have not been any quantitative studies that consistently track the oscillation amplitude both during the rise and decay (cooling tail) of bursts. Here we compute the light curves and amplitudes of oscillations in X-ray burst models that realistically account for both flame spreading and subsequent cooling. We present results for several such "cooling wake" models, a "canonical" cooling model where each patch on the NS surface heats and cools identically, or with a latitude-dependent cooling timescale set by the local effective gravity, and an "asymmetric" model where parts of the star cool at significantly different rates. We show that while the canonical cooling models can generate oscillations in the tails of bursts, they cannot easily produce the highest observed modulation amplitudes. Alternatively, a simple phenomenological model with asymmetric cooling can achieve higher amplitudes consistent with the observations.

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arXiv2014

Discovery of a Neutron Star Oscillation Mode During a Superburst

Neutron stars are among the most compact objects in the universe and provide a unique laboratory for the study of cold ultra-dense matter. While asteroseismology can provide a powerful probe of the interiors of stars, for example, helioseismology has provided unprecedented insights about the interior of the sun, comparable capabilities for neutron star seismology have not yet been achieved. Here we report the discovery of a coherent X-ray modulation from the neutron star 4U 1636-536 during the February 22, 2001 thermonuclear superburst seen with NASA's Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) that is very likely produced by a global oscillation mode. The observed frequency is 835.6440 +- 0.0002 Hz (1.43546 times the stellar spin frequency of 582.14323 Hz) and the modulation is well described by a sinusoid ( A + Bsin(p - p0) ) with fractional half-amplitude of B/A = 0.19 +- 0.04% (4-15 keV). The observed frequency is consistent with the expected inertial frame frequency of a rotationally-modified surface g-mode, an interfacial mode in the ocean-crust interface or perhaps an r-mode. Observing an inertial frame frequency--as opposed to a co-rotating frame frequency--appears consistent with the superburst's thermal emission arising from the entire surface of the neutron star, and the mode may become visible by perturbing the local surface temperature. We briefly discuss the implications of the mode detection for the neutron star's projected velocity and mass. Our results provide further strong evidence that global oscillation modes can produce observable modulations in the X-ray flux from neutron stars.

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arXiv2014

A Non-radial Oscillation Mode in an Accreting Millisecond Pulsar?

We present results of targeted searches for signatures of non-radial oscillation modes (such as r- and g-modes) in neutron stars using {\it RXTE} data from several accreting millisecond X-ray pulsars (AMXPs). We search for potentially coherent signals in the neutron star rest frame by first removing the phase delays associated with the star's binary motion and computing FFT power spectra of continuous light curves with up to $2^{30}$ time bins. We search a range of frequencies in which both r- and g-modes are theoretically expected to reside. Using data from the discovery outburst of the 435 Hz pulsar XTE J1751$-$305 we find a single candidate, coherent oscillation with a frequency of $0.5727597 \times ν_{spin} = 249.332609$ Hz, and a fractional Fourier amplitude of $7.46 \times 10^{-4}$. We estimate the significance of this feature at the $1.6 \times 10^{-3}$ level, slightly better than a $3σ$ detection. We argue that possible mode identifications include rotationally-modified g-modes associated with either a helium-rich surface layer or a density discontinuity due to electron captures on hydrogen in the accreted ocean. Alternatively, the frequency could be identified with that of an inertial mode or an r-mode modified by the presence of a solid crust, however, the r-mode amplitude required to account for the observed modulation amplitude would induce a large spin-down rate inconsistent with the observed pulse timing measurements. For the AMXPs XTE J1814$-$338 and NGC 6440 X-2 we do not find any candidate oscillation signals, and we place upper limits on the fractional Fourier amplitude of any coherent oscillations in our frequency search range of $7.8\times 10^{-4}$ and $5.6 \times 10^{-3}$, respectively. We briefly discuss the prospects and sensitivity for similar searches with future, larger X-ray collecting area missions.

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arXiv2013

A new crystalline phase in magnetar crusts

We show that ions at the low densities and high magnetic fields relevant to the outer crust of magnetars form a novel crystalline phase where ions are strongly coupled along the magnetic field and loosely coupled in the transverse direction. The underlying cause is the anisotropic screening of the Coulomb force by electrons in the presence of a strongly quantizing magnetic field which leads to Friedel oscillations in the ion-ion potential. In particular, the Friedel oscillations are much longer-ranged in the direction of the magnetic field than is the case in the absence of magnetic fields, a factor that has been neglected in previous studies. These "Friedel crystals" have very anisotropic elastic moduli, with potentially interesting implications for the Quasi-periodic Oscillations seen in the X-ray flux of magnetars during their giant flares. We find the minimum energy configuration of ions taking into account these anisotropic effects and find that, depending on the density, temperature and magnetic field strength, different lattice structures (fcc, hcp or bcc oriented in different ways in relation to the magnetic field) are favored.

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arXiv2013

Upper bounds on r-mode amplitudes from observations of low-mass X-ray binary neutron stars

We present upper limits on the amplitude of r-mode oscillations, and gravitational-radiation-induced spin-down rates, in low mass X-ray binary neutron stars, under the assumption that the quiescent neutron star luminosity is powered by dissipation from a steady-state r-mode. For masses $< 2 M_{\odot}$ we find dimensionless r-mode amplitudes in the range from about $1\times 10^{-8}$ to $1.5\times 10^{-6}$. For the accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar sources with known quiescent spin-down rates these limits suggest that $\lesssim 1%$ of the observed rate can be due to an unstable r-mode. Interestingly, the source with the highest amplitude limit, NGC 6440, could have an r-mode spin-down rate comparable to the observed, quiescent rate for SAX J1808-3658. Thus, quiescent spin-down measurements for this source would be particularly interesting. For all sources considered here our amplitude limits suggest that gravitational wave signals are likely too weak for detection with Advanced LIGO. Our highest mass model ($2.21\, M_{\odot}$) can support enhanced, direct Urca neutrino emission in the core and thus can have higher r-mode amplitudes. Indeed, the inferred r-mode spin-down rates at these higher amplitudes are inconsistent with the observed spin-down rates for some of the sources, such as IGR J00291+5934 and XTE J1751-305. In the absence of other significant sources of internal heat, these results could be used to place an upper limit on the masses of these sources if they were made of hadronic matter, or alternatively it could be used to probe the existence of exotic matter in them if their masses were known.

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arXiv2013

Friedel crystals and the outer crust of magnetars

The strong magnetic fields found on the surface of magnetars are known to have profound effects in the physics of atoms in magnetar envelopes. We argue that the Friedel oscillations in the Coulomb force between the ions due to electron shielding can, for certain values of the parameters, be the dominant effect determining the crystal structure in the outer crust of magnetars. We estimate the densities and magnetic fields for which this occurs, compute some of the elastic moduli and lattice phonon dispersion relations in this "Friedel crystal" phase.

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arXiv2012

Impact of r-modes on the cooling of neutron stars

Studying the frequency and temperature evolution of a compact star can give us valuable information about the microscopic properties of the matter inside the star. In this paper we study the effect of dissipative reheating of a neutron star due to r-mode oscillations on its temperature evolution. We find that there is still an impact of an r-mode phase on the temperature long after the star has left the instability region and the r-mode is damped completely. With accurate temperature measurements it may be possible to detect this trace of a previous r-mode phase in observed pulsars.

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arXiv2012

Viscous damping of r-modes: Large amplitude saturation

We analyze the viscous damping of r-mode oscillations of compact stars, taking into account non-linear viscous effects in the large-amplitude regime. The qualitatively different cases of hadronic stars, strange quark stars, and hybrid stars are studied. We calculate the viscous damping times of r-modes, obtaining numerical results and also general approximate analytic expressions that explicitly exhibit the dependence on the parameters that are relevant for a future spindown evolution calculation. The strongly enhanced damping of large amplitude oscillations leads to damping times that are considerably lower than those obtained when the amplitude dependence of the viscosity is neglected. Consequently, large-amplitude viscous damping competes with the gravitational instability at all physical frequencies and could stop the r-mode growth in case this is not done before by non-linear hydrodynamic mechanisms.

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