AWhat changed
Two analyses of NICER X-ray pulse profiles for the millisecond pulsar PSR J0030+0451 inferred its mass, radius and emitting-region geometry. Under their selected models, Riley and colleagues reported an equatorial radius of 12.71 +1.14/−1.19 km and mass of 1.34 +0.15/−0.16 solar masses; Miller and colleagues reported 13.02 +1.24/−1.06 km and 1.44 +0.15/−0.14 solar masses. These quoted marginal uncertainties are 68% credible intervals.
Scientific scope
Two analyses of NICER X-ray pulse profiles for the millisecond pulsar PSR J0030+0451 inferred its mass, radius and emitting-region geometry. Under their selected models, Riley and colleagues reported an equatorial radius of 12.71 +1.14/−1.19 km and mass of 1.34 +0.15/−0.16 solar masses; Miller and colleagues reported 13.02 +1.24/−1.06 km and 1.44 +0.15/−0.14 solar masses. These quoted marginal uncertainties are 68% credible intervals. The two analyses use the same NICER observations with overlapping authors and different modelling methods; they are not independent observing confirmations. Inferences depend on the selected hot-spot geometry, atmosphere, calibration, background and distance assumptions. Pulse-profile reconstruction does not directly resolve the stellar surface or establish a unique neutron-star equation of state. The results here are from the two cited preprint versions; their additional online figure sets and later journal versions are outside this summary.
Evidence
The linked original works support the scoped statement and contribution attribution. WRS has not independently replayed experiments or reconstructed a full mathematical proof. The two analyses use the same NICER observations with overlapping authors and different modelling methods; they are not independent observing confirmations. Inferences depend on the selected hot-spot geometry, atmosphere, calibration, background and distance assumptions. Pulse-profile reconstruction does not directly resolve the stellar surface or establish a unique neutron-star equation of state. The results here are from the two cited preprint versions; their additional online figure sets and later journal versions are outside this summary.
Contributors
- The named authors in the research record · SCIENCE: These are source-listed labels from two separate analyses of the same observations, not a joint paper. Each label is bound to a paper on which it appears. Individual effort, author nationality and unresolved cross-record identities are not inferred.
- A NICER View of PSR J0030+0451: Millisecond Pulsar Parameter Estimation
- PSR J0030+0451 Mass and Radius from NICER Data and Implications for the Properties of Neutron Star Matter
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