There is currently little observational guidance as to the masses of stars thatleave behind neutron stars and black holes. Three of the four best constraintscome from X-ray pulsars that are associated with young star clusters.Remarkably, all three of these limits suggests that the progenitors weremassive, with lower limits between 20 and 50 Msun. Moreover, the neutron starsthemselves appear to be highly-magnetized, with Bvirgul1e14 G, compared to Bvirgul1e12 Gfor an ordinary radio pulsar. More constraints on the masses of progenitors areclearly needed, so we are proposing a pilot study of 2 candidate young clustersof massive stars to search for X-ray pulsars.
Instrument
EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage
2007-03-03T19:11:03Z/2007-03-04T03:50:31Z
Version
17.56_20190403_1200
Mission Description
The European Space Agencys (ESA) X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton) was launched by an Ariane 504 on December 10th 1999. XMM-Newton is ESAs second cornerstone of the Horizon 2000 Science Programme. It carries 3 high throughput X-ray telescopes with an unprecedented effective area, and an optical monitor, the first flown on a X-ray observatory. The large collecting area and ability to make long uninterrupted exposures provide highly sensitive observations. Since Earths atmosphere blocks out all X-rays, only a telescope in space can detect and study celestial X-ray sources. The XMM-Newton mission is helping scientists to solve a number of cosmic mysteries, ranging from the enigmatic black holes to the origins of the Universe itself. Observing time on XMM-Newton is being made available to the scientific community, applying for observational periods on a competitive basis.
European Space Agency, Dr Michael Muno, 2008, 'Constraining the Mapping Between Initial Stellar Masses and Compact Remnants', 17.56_20190403_1200, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-7w2d94k
