J 2025

Lense-Thirring precession of neutron-star accretion flows: Relativistic versus classical precession

TÖRÖK, Gabriel; Martin URBANEC; Monika MATUSZKOVÁ; Gabriela URBANCOVÁ; Kateřina KLIMOVIČOVÁ et al.

Basic information

Original name

Lense-Thirring precession of neutron-star accretion flows: Relativistic versus classical precession

Authors

TÖRÖK, Gabriel; Martin URBANEC; Monika MATUSZKOVÁ; Gabriela URBANCOVÁ; Kateřina KLIMOVIČOVÁ; Debora LANČOVÁ; Eva ŠRÁMKOVÁ and Jiří HORÁK

Edition

ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS, LES ULIS CEDEX A, EDP SCIENCES S A, 2025, 0004-6361

Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Article in a journal

Field of Study

10308 Astronomy

Country of publisher

France

Confidentiality degree

is not subject to a state or trade secret

References:

URL

Impact factor

Impact factor: 5.800 in 2024

Organization unit

Institute of physics in Opava

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202554318

UT WoS

001606951900003

EID Scopus

2-s2.0-105021250098

Keywords in English

neutron stars;X-rays;binares

Tags

04076-2024-RRC, RIV26, SGS-25-2024, UF

Tags

International impact, Reviewed

Links

GN25-16928O, research and development project. GX21-06825X, research and development project.
Changed: 22/1/2026 13:26, Mgr. Pavlína Jalůvková

Abstract

In the original language

The vertical (Lense-Thirring) precession of the innermost accretion flows has been discussed as a sensitive indicator of the rotational properties of neutron stars (NSs) and their equation of state because it vanishes for a non-rotating star. For this work we applied the Hartle-Thorne spacetimes to study the frequencies of the precession for both geodesic and non-geodesic (fluid) flows. We built on previous findings of the effect of the NS quadrupole moment, which revealed the importance of the interplay between the relativistic and classical precession. Because of this interplay, the widely used Lense-Thirring metric, linear in the NS angular momentum, is insufficient to calculate the behaviour of the precession frequency across an astrophysically relevant range of NS angular momentum values. We find that even for moderately oblate NSs, the dependences of the precession frequency on the NS angular momentum at radii within the innermost accretion region have maxima that occur at relatively low values of the NS angular momentum. We conclude that very different groups of accreting NSs - slow and fast rotators - can display the same precession frequencies. This may explain the lack of evidence for a correlation between the frequencies of the observed low-frequency quasiperiodic oscillations and the NS spin. In our work we provide a full general description of precession behaviour, and also examples that assume specific NS and quark star (MIT bag) equations of state. Our calculations are reproducible using the associated Wolfram Mathematica notebook.
Displayed: 30/1/2026 05:28