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"Spinning, Cooling, and Blowing Off Steam: Young Neutron Stars and their Wind Nebulae" |
Prof. Patrick Slane
Harvard-Smithsonian CFA |
| With Teragauss magnetic fields, surface gravity sufficiently strong to
significantly modify light paths, central densities higher than that of a
standard nucleus, and rotation rates exceeding those of the tires on an
automobile traveling at 800 km/hr, young neutron stars are sites of some
of the most extreme physical conditions known in the Universe. They generate
magnetic winds with particles that are accelerated to energies in excess of
a TeV. These winds form synchrotron-emitting bubbles as the particle stream
is eventually decelerated to match the general expansion caused by the
explosion that formed the neutron stars. The structure of these pulsar wind
nebulae allow us to infer properties of the winds and the pulsating neutron
stars themselves. The surfaces of the stars radiate energy from the
rapidly cooling interiors where the physical structure is basically unknown
because of our imprecise knowledge of the strong interaction at ultrahigh
densities. In this talk I will present a summary of recent measurements that
allow us to infer the birth properties of neutron stars and to probe the
nature of their winds, the physics of their atmospheres, and the structure
of their interiors.
Tuesday, October 29th at 4:00 p.m.
Seminar is scheduled to be held in F235 of
the Tech Building, due to current renovations at Dearborn Observatory.
Refreshments will be served at 3:30
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