Space Sciences/Astrophysics Seminar with Jack Steiner on A NICER Look at Bright X-ray Binary Systems

NICER is a soft X-ray timing mission onboard the International Space Station, which was  installed in the summer of 2017. NICER offers an order of magnitude leap in time fidelity compared to any predecessor X-ray instrument.  It's X-ray Timing Instrument provides CCD-like spectral resolution, high soft X-ray sensitivity, low background, and large collecting area.  NICER is making leading contributions to fundamental topics in high-energy astrophysics including measuring neutron-star equation of state, determining black-hole spin,  mapping accretion flow structure (using quasi-periodic oscillations), and revealing disk-coronal geometry.  I will highlight some of NICER’s results on black hole X-ray binary systems in particular and showcase NICER's capabilities for high-energy spectral-timing studies.

Sponsored by the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences.