[Triumf-seminars] TRIUMF Seminar today at 14:00

[postmaster@admin.triumf.ca]

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Date/Time: Thu 2004-07-08 at 14:00

Location:  Auditorium          

Speaker:   Andrew Cumming (U of California, Santa Cruz)

Title:     Flashes in the Ashes: A New Probe of the rp-Process on Accreting Neutron Stars

Abstract: Neutron stars in low-mass X-ray binaries accrete hydrogen and helium from a companion star. Every few hours to days, the accreted matter undergoes a thermonuclear instability, giving rise to a 10-100 second "Type I X-ray burst". Long term monitoring of X-ray burst sources over the last few years has revealed a new class of bursts, now known as "superbursts". With durations and energies 1000 times larger than seen previously, superbursts are thought to be thermonuclear flashes involving carbon and heavy elements left over from rp-process hydrogen and helium burning. In this talk, I review the new observations, and describe recent theoretical modelling. The properties of superbursts, and the interactions between superbursts and normal Type I bursts, are an important new probe of rp-process hydrogen burning on accreting neutron stars.

Stimulants available 15 minutes before the talk.

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Subscription information available at http://admin.triumf.ca/netdata/seminars/list


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