Spanish Astronomers Observe Very Cold Neutron Stars for Their Ages

A study conducted by Spanish astronomers showed that the neutron star J0205, which is only 841 years old and has a temperature of 2.3 million degrees Celsius, is considered very cold to an extent that is not compatible with a large number of models that explain the coldness of these cosmic bodies. Unique. By reviewing what was observed by the XMM Newton and Chandra space telescopes dedicated to discovering neutron stars, the team of Spanish astronomers identified three of them that stand out from the rest. Dr. Alessio Marino, co-author of the study and a member of the Barcelona Institute of Space Sciences, explained that its temperature is very high on paper, but it is unusually cold for its young age. This difference is not small, because their temperature reaches at least half the temperature of neutron stars of the same age. Michaela Ortel, director of research at the National Center for Scientific Research at the Strasbourg Observatory, who specializes in the field of compact objects, noted that the star is born at a temperature of about 500 billion degrees, and after a few minutes, it drops to less than ten billion degrees, and this temperature drops sharply as it advances. The age of these stars, one million years. In the current model, astronomers calculated cooling curves by age, allowing them to be compared to neutron stars. They determined this age by observing the cloud left over from the original explosion that witnessed the birth of stars. Their calculations showed that the youngest, J0205, is 841 years old, a date confirmed by historical accounts from medieval sky watchers. As for the other two, the first is 7,700 years old, and the second is between 2,500 and 5,000 years old, with temperatures of 1.9 and 4.6 million degrees, respectively, that is, at least twice the size of contemporary neutron stars. The study, published in the journal Nature Astronomy, concluded that for the neutron stars under consideration, these models must include a rapid cooling mechanism, linked to the compositio n of the star. The importance of this study is related to basic physics, and lies in the fact that it allows in particular to understand the strong interaction, which is one of the fundamental forces that govern matter in the infinitely small. Source: Qatar News Agency