X-ray Timing of Neutron Stars, Astrophysical Probes of Extreme Physics

Understand

The characteristic physical timescales near stellar-mass compact objects are measured in milliseconds.

• These timescales -- the free-fall time, the fastest stable orbital period, and stellar spin periods -- encode the fundamental physical properties of compact objects: mass, radius, and angular momentum.
• The characteristic temperature of matter in the vicinity of neutron stars is such that the principal electromagnetic window into their realms is the X-ray band.
• Because of these connections to the fundamental properties of neutron stars, X-ray timing studies remain today the most direct means of probing their structure and dynamics.