Astronomen entdecken das bisher masseschwächste Doppel-Neutronensternsystem

Original paper: https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/hmjp-htd1

Full pre-print on arxiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.27333

This is a system of a pulsar with a companion that is also a neutron star, the total mass is 2.5 solar masses with the pulsar being 1.3 solar masses and the companion 1.2. This is extremely interesting because the Chandrasekhar mass (the maximum mass of an electron degenerate core) is 1.44 solar masses, so most neutron stars are more massive than that. The process of core collapse that produces a neutron star is messy and can create these lighter bodies, the lightest possible neutron star according to current models is somewhere around 1.1 solar masses, so these are pretty close. Also, because it’s a binary system the masses of each can be measured directly and precisely.