# Extracting Neutron Star Properties from X-ray Burst Oscillations

## Introduction

Shortly after the launch of the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) in late 1995, single kilohertz brightness oscillations were discovered in RXTE countrate time series data from thermonuclear X-ray bursts in several neutron-star low-mass X-ray binaries. These oscillations are remarkably coherent and their frequencies are very stable from burst to burst in a given source SSZ98 . These oscillations are therefore thought to be at the stellar spin frequency or its first overtone. This suggests that the oscillations are caused by rotational modulation of a hot spot produced by non-uniform nuclear burning and propagation. Analysis of these oscillations can therefore constrain the mass and radius of the star and yield valuable information about the speed and type of thermonuclear propagation. In turn, this has implications for strong gravity and dense matter, and for astrophysical thermonuclear propagation in other contexts, such as classical novae and Type Ia supernovae.

A comparison of theoretical waveforms with the observations is required to extract this fundamental information. Here we exhibit waveform calculations that we have produced using general relativistic ray-tracing codes. We survey the effects of parameters such as the spot size, the stellar compactness, and the stellar rotational velocity, and demonstrate that our computations fit well the phase lag data from SAX J1808–3658.

## Computational Method

To compute observed light curves, we do general relativistic ray tracing from points on the surface to the observer at infinity in a way similar to, but more general than, PFC83  and ML98 . For simplicity, we assume that the exterior spacetime is Schwarzschild, that the surface is dark except for the hot spot or spots, and that there is no background emission. The amplitudes would be reduced by a constant factor if there were background emission. The angular dependence of the specific intensity at the surface depends on both radiation transfer effects and Doppler boosting (see WML99 ). For each phase of rotation we compute the projected area of many small elements of a given finite size spot. We then build up the light curve of the entire spot by superposing the light curve of all the small elements. The grid resolution of the spot is chosen so that the effect of having a finite number of small elements can alter the value of the computed oscillation amplitudes by a fraction no larger than $`10^4`$. After computing the oscillation waveform using the above approach, we Fourier-analyze the resulting light curve to determine the oscillation amplitudes and phases as a function of photon energy at different harmonics.

## Results

Panel (a) of Figure 1 shows the fractional rms amplitudes at the first two harmonics as a function of spot size and stellar compactness for one emitting spot centered on the rotational equator, as seen by a distant observer in the rotational plane. These curves demonstrate that a common result of the hot-spot model is large-amplitude brightness oscillations with a high contrast in strength between the dominant harmonic and weaker harmonics, as is observed in several sources. The curves for the first harmonic illustrate the general shape of most of the first harmonic curves. Initially, the amplitude depends only weakly on spot size. However, once the spot grows to an angular radius of $`40^{}`$ there is a steep decline in the oscillation amplitude which flattens out only near the tail of the expansion. This expected behavior appears to be in conflict with the decline in amplitude observed by Strohmayer, Zhang, & Swank (1997) from 4U 1728–34, in which the initial decline is steep. The cause of this could be that the initial velocity of propagation is large, or that the observed amplitude is diminished significantly by isotropization of the beam due to scattering (Weinberg, Miller, & Lamb 1999).

Panel (b) of Figure 1 shows the fractional rms amplitude at the second harmonic under the same assumptions but for two identical, antipodal emitting spots. The range in spot size here is $`0^{}90^{}`$ since two antipodal spots of $`90^{}`$ radii cover the entire stellar surface. Note that in this situation, there is no first harmonic.

These figures show that when there is only one emitting spot, the fundamental is always much stronger than higher harmonics. Thus, a source such as 4U 1636–536 with a stronger first overtone than fundamental M99  must have two nearly antipodal emitting spots. As described in detail in WML99 , we confirm the results of PFC83  and ML98  that the rms amplitude decreases with increasing compactness until $`R/M4`$, then increases due to the formation of caustics. We also find that a finite surface rotational velocity increases the amplitude at the second harmonic substantially, while having a relatively small effect on the first harmonic (left panel of Figure 2).

As an application to data, in the right panel of Figure 2 we use our models to fit phase lag data from the millisecond accreting X-ray pulsar SAX J1808–3658. The waveforms from the accreting spot are expected to be similar to the waveforms from burst brightness oscillations, and the signal to noise for this source greatly exceeds that from burst sources such as Aql X-1 F99 . As is apparent from the figure, the fit is excellent. Further data, especially from a high-area timing mission, could be used to constrain the stellar mass or radius from phase lag data.