On the minimum mass of neutron stars

Abstract

We investigate the remnant neutron star mass, in particular the minimum mass. We perform advanced stellar evolution calculations and neutrino-radiation hydrodynamics simulations for core-collapse supernova explosions based on the standard astrophysical scenarios. We find that from low-mass carbon-oxygen cores which form sufficiently massive iron cores that eventually collapse, the remnant neutron stars after supernova explosion are as light as 1.17 M , which is compatible with the lowest mass of the neutron star precisely measured in a binary system of PSR J0453+1559.