Conveners
A NICER view of extreme gravity from the International Space Station: Monday block 1
- Zaven Arzoumanian (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)
- Guglielmo Mastroserio (Universitร degli Studi di Milano)
A NICER view of extreme gravity from the International Space Station: Monday block 2
- Guglielmo Mastroserio (Universitร degli Studi di Milano)
- Zaven Arzoumanian (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)
Description
Strong gravity is the driver of some of the most energetic phenomena in the universe, which are also copious producers of X-rays. Imprinted on this radiation โ in its brightness fluctuations and time-dependent energy spectra โ are keys to our understanding of physical extremes: ultra-dense matter and exceptionally powerful electromagnetic fields, in addition to dynamic gravitational environments. NASAโs Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER), a telescope on the International Space Station, provides the combination of capabilities in soft X-rays that is needed to probe extraordinary cosmic processes and to address high-priority questions in time-domain and multi-messenger astrophysics. Following a brief overview of the mission, this session will cover some key NICER results and their physical implications for the structure of neutron stars, accretion as a probe of black holes, gravitational waves from supermassive black-hole binaries and rapidly spinning pulsars, and the recently discovered "quasi-periodic eruption" phenomenon, which may represent the first electromagnetic evidence for extreme-mass-ratio inspiral events highly anticipated by the future LISA gravitational-wave observatory.
