Insights into Neutron Stars from Precision Mass Measurements of Nuclei

Researchers at the Institute of Modern Physics in China have used ultrasensitive mass spectrometry to measure the masses of several key nuclei with high precision, including germanium-64, which plays a decisive role in the nuclear reaction sequence that powers X-ray bursts on the surface of neutron stars. By using the new data to model X-ray bursts, the researchers set constraints on the properties of neutron stars, finding that the density of the neutron star is lower than expected and the temperature of the outer shell of the neutron star should be higher than generally believed after the X-ray burst.