Gravity Seminars

Neutron stars are some of the most compact objects in the universe, second only to black holes.  Their interior composition remains a mystery, but studies of neutron stars and pulsars can allow scientists to probe the dense nuclear regions within.  These investigations often lead to bounds on a neutron star mass, which can be compared with a given equation of state to provide the physical characteristics of a star.  In this talk, I'll speak about some work following up one of the most massive neutron stars ever measured, J0348+0432, and provide an update into the mass estimates.  This work was carried out with the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) telescope as well as archival data provided by the Arecibo Observatory and the Green Bank Telescope.  We have found that new estimates place a mass considerably lower than the original estimate likely due to a mis-modeling of the white dwarf companion mass.  A discussion of how this happened as well as the consequences of this new revelation will also be discussed.