Date/Time
Date(s) - 28/09/2005
3:30 pm - 4:30 pm

Title: The Youngest Neutron Stars

Speaker: Dr. David Helfand

Institute: Columbia University

Location: ABB 102

Description:

Supernova rates and pulsar population statistics suggest that there should be ~10 neutron stars in the Milky Way younger than the one in the Crab Nebula and ~100 less than 104 yrs old. Such young objects are crucial for determining the initial distributions of rotation rate, magnetic field strength, and velocity which constrain supernova explosion scenarios, while their temperatures provide a window on the behavior of matter at supranuclear densities. Prior to the launch of Chandra and XMM, we knew of fewer than half a dozen such objects. I will describe progress in this area over the past five years using data from these X-ray satellites as well as our new survey of the Galactic plane with the Very Large Array which promises to reveal some of the youngest pulsars in the Galaxy.