Author

Nathan Moore

Document Type

Honors Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Physics

Date of Award

Spring 2023

Abstract

Neutron star binding energy increases due to accreting matter from neighboring astronomical bodies, and decreases due to the star spinning up, increasing its angular velocity. We present a novel set of models that account for both increasing angular velocity and accreting matter to track a neutron star’s evolution. We arrive at these models through studying and reconfiguring computational investigations from the past, particularly a code which generates a model for a given fixed baryon mass and angular velocity and another that takes it from one baryon mass and angular velocity to the next one through accretion, to obtain a full picture of internal and external processes of neutron stars. Doing so resulted in discovering a sharp decrease in binding energy during the first 10 million years of certain neutron stars’ lives, which changes the way that neutron star observational data could be interpreted.

Advisor

William Newton

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Keywords

Neutron Star, Binding Energy, Spin-up, Accretion

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