Neutron Stars: The Quest to Understand the Zombies of the Cosmos

by Katia Moskvitch

Overview

The astonishing science of neutron stars and the stories of the scientists who study them.

Neutron stars are as bewildering as they are elusive. The remnants of exploded stellar giants, they are tiny, merely twenty kilometers across, and incredibly dense. One teaspoon of a neutron star would weigh several million tons. They can spin up to a thousand times per second, they possess the strongest magnetic fields known in nature, and they may be the source of the most powerful explosions in the universe. Through vivid storytelling and on-site reporting from observatories all over the world, Neutron Stars offers an engaging account of these still-mysterious objects.

Award-winning science journalist Katia Moskvitch takes readers from the vast Atacama Desert to the arid plains of South Africa to visit the magnificent radio telescopes and brilliant scientists responsible for our knowledge of neutron stars. She recounts the exhilarating discoveries, frustrating disappointments, and heated controversies of the past several decades and explains cutting-edge research into such phenomena as colliding neutron stars and fast radio bursts: extremely powerful but ultra-short flashes in space that scientists are still struggling to understand. She also shows how neutron stars have advanced our broader understanding of the universe—shedding light on topics such as dark matter, black holes, general relativity, and the origins of heavy elements like gold and platinum—and how we might one day use these cosmic beacons to guide interstellar travel.

With clarity and passion, Moskvitch describes what we are learning at the boundaries of astronomy, where stars have life beyond death.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674919358
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	09/15/2020
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	959,244
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Katia Moskvitch has been an editor at WIRED UK and staff writer at Nature and BBC News. She is a contributor to the Economist, Science, and Quanta Magazine. In 2019 she was named the European Science Journalist of the Year by the World Conference of Science Journalists.

Table of Contents

Prologue 1

1 A Collision That Shook the Cosmos 5

Deeper Dive: The Origin of Gold 31

Deeper Dive: Why Was the Kilonova Blue? 33

2 Discovering Neutron Stars…and Little Green Men? 35

Deeper Dive: The Interstellar Medium, Home of Neutron Stars 56

3 When Stars Go Boom 60

Deeper Dive: Pulsar Kicks 84

Deeper Dive: The Death of Massive Stars 87

4 Zombies and Starquakes 90

Deeper Dive: The Multibeam 126

Deeper Dive: The Exotic World of X-ray Sources 128

Deeper Dive: Pulsar Timing 129

5 Journey to the Center of a Neutron Star 131

6 How Neutron Stars Keep Spoiling Dark Matter Theories 163

7 When Pulsars Have Planets 185

8 Giant Scientific Tools of the Universe 198

Deeper Dive: Kepler's Laws and Beyond 228

9 Fast Radio Bursts, an Unfinished Chapter 231

Epilogue 255

Notes 259

Acknowledgments 279

Index 283

Color photos follow page 134

Editorial Reviews

★ 06/29/2020

Moskvitch (Call Me “Pops”: Le Bon Dieu Dans La Rue), a former Wired editor, delivers an enthralling look at neutron stars, “the small but ultra-dense and incredibly magnetic objects born out of the remnants of massive stars.” Despite the subject’s complexity, Moskvitch skillfully explicates these bizarre celestial objects, memorably dubbing them “cosmic zombies” for the way they send radio waves, gamma rays, and x-rays after the “death” of the stars from which they originate. Breaking up the science, she vividly describes visits to research stations across the world, from the “desolate, Mars-like landscape of the Atacama Desert in Chile” to the “huge radio-quiet zone in Pocahontas County in the mountains of West Virginia.” In addition to explaining how neutron stars are the source of most of the heavy elements like gold and platinum, Moskvitch looks at a related new scientific field, multi-messenger astronomy, which gathers all the signals generated by a cosmic event, such as two neutron stars colliding. Its scientific potential, she writes, is impressive and includes the prospect of using neutron stars as a galaxy-scale navigation system that can “guide humans to other worlds.” Carl Sagan devotees will relish this portrayal of a new frontier in science. (Sept.)Correction: An earlier version of this review incorrectly stated Moskvich was an editor at Wired.

Publishers Weekly

An extraordinary blending of scales and disciplines, from astrophysics to particle physics, Neutron Stars faithfully describes one of the most active frontiers of science today, and introduces the exciting new field of multi-messenger astronomy.

Stavros Katsanevas

A detailed overview of what we know, and have yet to find out, about neutron stars and their place in the universe…Engaging.

Space Review - Jeff Foust

Katia Moskvitch takes the reader on a breakneck tour of the last century of thought and observation into neutron stars. Her research is impeccable, with complicated concepts presented in an easily understood manner. I highly recommend Neutron Stars to anyone who wants to learn not only about the history of neutron star research, but also the current race to understand fast radio bursts, magnetars, and colliding neutron stars.

Stephen R. Taylor

Moskvitch offers riveting explanations of what astronomers have learned so far using radio telescopes, starting with Jocelyn Bell’s discovery in 1967 of the first pulsar, and what puzzles remain in the tantrums as well as quiet murmur of neutron stars.

New York Review of Books - Priyamvada Natarajan

Fantastic…Not only are there great insights into the physics that underpin these zombie stars, but they are often explained using anecdotes from scientists all over the globe…Moskvitch has written a beautiful book of personal stories, entwined with an exploration of these exotic stellar objects.

BBC Sky at Night - Amber Hornsby

For astronomers, neutron stars are the gift that keeps on giving. For more than fifty years, a crescendo of discoveries has amazed us and led us to probe the laws of physics to the breaking point. Katia Moskvitch recounts the key advances and clearly explains the underlying science. And she has the journalistic skills to offer readers a real feel for what it's like to be part of the international community of astronomers—experiencing triumphs and disappointments in the quest to discover exotic cosmic phenomena.

Martin Rees

Neutron stars, super-dense balls of nuclear matter at the end-points of stellar evolution, are detectable from Earth through their emission of radio and gravitational waves. Katia Moskvitch provides a fascinating tour of the world’s most sensitive detectors for such radiation, the prediction and discovery of neutron stars, their place in the grand cosmic scheme, and up-close views of many of the gifted astrophysicists behind these discoveries.

Joseph H. Taylor

With journalistic flair, unlimited enthusiasm, and enviable travel funds, Moskvitch has visited radio telescopes on five continents, spoken to many of the key researchers including Jocelyn Bell, and managed to connect a surprising number of dots to give a big picture view of the Universe.

Chemistry & Industry - Michael Gross

A remarkable encounter with remote radio observatories, mind-boggling theories, and the most bizarre objects in the universe. Packed with information but accessible throughout, this fast-paced book is a wonderful introduction to the most exciting topics in current astronomy.

Govert Schilling

If watching Tom Cruise in Top Gun made some want to be navy pilots, this book will make many young scientists want to become detectives of the universe. Katia Moskvitch takes us through the history of our understanding of the enigmatic neutron stars in a book that is punctuated with human stories, crazy ideas, novel instrumentation, and profound discoveries. This rich tale is an inspiring account of the process of science.

France A. Córdova

An enjoyable read about an area of science in which remarkable advances-in-insight have been made in recent years—and where much promising work looks to be possible.

Complete Review

Taking us behind the scenes of scientific exploration, Katia Moskvitch introduces the people responsible for advancing our understanding of neutron stars and communicates the feeling of amazement that accompanies unexpected discovery.

Jocelyn Bell Burnell

If watching Tom Cruise in Top Gun made some want to be navy pilots, this book will make many young scientists want to become detectives of the universe. Katia Moskvitch takes us through the history of our understanding of the enigmatic neutron stars in a book that is punctuated with human stories, crazy ideas, novel instrumentation, and profound discoveries. This rich tale is an inspiring account of the process of science.

France A. Córdova

Neutron stars, super-dense balls of nuclear matter at the end-points of stellar evolution, are detectable from Earth through their emission of radio and gravitational waves. Katia Moskvitch provides a fascinating tour of the world's most sensitive detectors for such radiation, the prediction and discovery of neutron stars, their place in the grand cosmic scheme, and up-close views of many of the gifted astrophysicists behind these discoveries."

Joe Taylor