Measurement of neutron star parameters: A review of methods for low-mass X-ray binaries

Measurement of at least three independent parameters, for example, mass, radius and spin frequency, of a neutron star is probably the only way to understand the nature of its supranuclear core matter. Such a measurement is extremely difficult because of various systematic uncertainties. The lack of knowledge of several system parameter values gives rise to such systematics Low mass X-ray binaries, which contain neutron stars, provide a number of methods to constrain the stellar parameters Joint application of these methods has a great potential to significantly reduce the systematic uncertainties, and hence to measure three independent neutron star parameters accurately Here, we review the methods based on (I) thermonuclear X-ray bursts, (2) accretion-powered millisecond-period pulsations, (3) kilohertz quasi-periodic oscillations, (4) broad relativistic Iron lines, (5) quiescent emissions, and (6) binary orbital motions (C) 2010 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved