Joint Astrophysics Colloquium

Special Astrophysics Seminar

Accreting Binaries and the Neutron Star Equation of State

Duncan Galloway

University of Melbourne

The properties of “cold” matter at super-nuclear density remains an outstanding problem for fundamental physics. X-ray observations of accreting neutron stars allow us to i) detect neutron stars spinning beyond the present maximum rate to constrain the equation of state, and ii) test for the presence of exotic matter via thermonuclear explosions in the accumulated material. I will describe the progress to date in these two respects, and what we may learn from future observations.