Speaker
Description
The recently conducted eROSITA All-Sky Survey and the serendipitous source catalogues from pointed X-ray missions, like XMM-Newton, allow to significantly increase the population of thermally emitting isolated neutron stars (INSs). This promises exciting insights into the physics of ultra-dense matter, INS magnetic field evolution, and to study evolutionary pathways and links. However, with the current generation of X-ray instruments, long and time-expensive follow-up campaigns are required to weed out remaining contaminants and to establish the spectral and temporal state of the selected candidates, a necessary requirement before the new sources can be included in the aforementioned studies. In this talk, we will present how the the great positional accuracy, unparalleled spectral resolution, and large collecting area of the instruments aboard NewAthena not only allow for serendipitous INS discoveries, but will likewise revolutionise the identification and characterisation of thermally emitting INSs at unprecedented flux limits.
