Tests of the nuclear equation of state and superfluid and superconducting gaps using the Cassiopeia A neutron star

Abstract

The observed rapid cooling of the Cassiopeia A neutron star can be interpreted as being caused by neutron and proton transitions from normal to superfluid and superconducting states in the stellar core. Here we present two new Chandra ACIS-S Graded observations of this neutron star and measurements of the neutron star mass M and radius R found from consistent fitting of both the X-ray spectra and cooling behavior. This comparison is only possible for individual nuclear equations of state. We test phenomenological superfluid and superconducting gap models which mimic many of the known theoretical models against the cooling behavior. Our best-fit solution to the Cassiopeia A data is one in which the (M,R) = (1.44 Msun,12.6 km) neutron star is built with the BSk21 equation of state, strong proton superconductor and moderate neutron triplet superfluid gap models, and a pure iron envelope or a thin carbon layer on top of an iron envelope, although there are still large observational and theoretical uncertainties.