Narrow atomic features from rapidly spinning neutron stars

Neutron stars spinning at moderate rates (∼300-600 Hz) become oblate in shape and acquire a nonzero quadrupole moment. In this paper, we calculate the profiles of atomic features from such neutron stars using a ray-tracing algorithm in the Hartle-Thorne approximation. We show that line profiles acquire cores that are much narrower than the widths expected from pure Doppler effects for a large range of observer inclinations. As a result, the effects of both the oblateness and the quadrupole moments of neutron stars need to be taken into account when aiming to measure neutron-star radii from rotationally broadened lines. Moreover, the presence of these narrow cores substantially increases the likelihood of detecting atomic lines from rapidly spinning neutron stars.