eROSITA and the Science of Neutron Stars

by Dr Werner Becker (MPE)

Tuesday 28 Jan 2020, 16:15 → 18:15 Europe/Berlin

Main/0-174 - Auditorium (Main)

eROSITA is the core instrument on the Russian Spektrum-Roentgen-Gamma (SRG) mission. The X-ray observatory was successfully 
launched from Baikonur on July 13, 2019 and placed in an halo orbit around the L2 point. eROSITA will perform a deep survey of the 
entire X-ray sky. In the soft X-ray band (0.5-2 keV), it will be about 30 times more sensitive than the German ROSAT observatory 
launched in 1990, while in the hard band (2-8 keV) it will provide the first ever true imaging survey of the sky. Although the design 
driving science of eROSITA is to test cosmological models, including Dark Energy, the survey data will also allow to study a wide 
range of galactic X-ray sources like neutron stars, pulsars and supernova remnants. Neutron stars and pulsars are astrophysical 
objects of great interest. They provide a wealth of information about physics under extreme conditions regarding gravity, density 
and temperature. Still, 55 years after their discovery, they pose challenges for scientists who strive to understand their interior 
composition, global structure, magnetosphere and the processes that lead to their emissions from radio wavelengths  to X- and 
gamma rays. In my talk I will report on the eROSITA mission, its status and scientific prospects, with the main focus on the 
science of neutron stars and the equation of state of superdense nuclear matter.