We perform population synthesis studies of different types of neutron stars (thermally emitting isolated neutron stars, normal radio pulsars, magnetars) taking into account the magnetic field decay and using results from the most recent advances in neutron star cooling theory. For the first time, we confront our results with observations using {\it simultaneously} the Log N -- Log S distribution for nearby isolated neutron stars, the Log N -- Log L distribution for magnetars, and the distribution of radio pulsars in the $P$ -- $\dot P$ diagram. For this purpose, we fix a baseline neutron star model (all microphysics input), and other relevant parameters to standard values (velocity distribution, mass spectrum, birth rates ...), allowing to vary the initial magnetic field strength. We find that our theoretical model is consistent with all sets of data if the initial magnetic field distribution function follows a log-normal law with $<\log (B_0/[G])>\sim 13.25$ and $σ_{\log B_0}\sim 0.6$. The typical scenario includes about 10% of neutron stars born as magnetars, significant magnetic field decay during the first million years of a NS life (only about a factor of 2 for low field neutron stars but more than an order of magnitude for magnetars), and a mass distribution function dominated by low mass objects. This model explains satisfactorily all known populations. Evolutionary links between different subclasses may exist, although robust conclusions are not yet possible.
Isolated Neutron Stars are known to be endowed with extreme magnetic fields, whose maximum intensity ranges from 10^12 to 10^15 G, which permeates their magnetospheres. Their surrounding environment is also strongly magnetised, especially in the compact nebulae powered by the relativistic wind from young neutron stars. The radiation from isolated neutron stars and their surrounding nebulae is, thus, supposed to bring a strong polarisation signature. Measuring the neutron star polarisation brings important information on the properties of their magnetosphere and of their highly magnetised envir…
Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Lomonosov Moscow State University（列别捷夫物理研究所莫斯科国立大学分所）；Department of Physics, Lomonosov Moscow State University（莫斯科国立大学物理系）；The Raymond and Beverly Sackler School of Physics and Astronomy, Tel Aviv University（特拉维夫大学雷蒙德和贝弗利萨克勒物理与天文学学院）
A four-year sky survey with the use of the eROSITA telescope on board the Spektr-RG observatory will provide the best coverage in the soft (0.5-2 keV) and standard (2-10 keV) X-ray ranges, both in terms of sensitivity and angular resolution. We have analysed the possibility of detecting various types of isolated neutron stars with eROSITA. Among already known objects, eROSITA will be able to detect more than 160 pulsars, 21 magnetars, 7 central compact objects, all seven sources of the Magnificent Seven, and two other X-ray isolated neutron stars during the four-year survey mission.
Almost 30 Isolated Neutron Stars (INSs) of different flavours have been identified at optical, ultraviolet, or infrared (UVOIR) wavelengths. Here, I present a short review of the historical background and describe the scientific impact of INS observations in the UVOIR. Then, I focus on UVOIR observations of rotation-powered pulsars, so far the most numerous class of INSs identified at these wavelengths, and their observational properties. Finally, I present the results of new UVOIR observations and an update of the follow-ups of gamma-ray pulsars detected by Fermi.
Most isolated neutron stars have been discovered thanks to the detection of their pulsed non-thermal emission, at wavelengths spanning from radio to gamma-rays. However, if the beamed non-thermal radiation does not intercept our line of sight or it is too faint or absent, isolated neutron stars can also be detected through their thermal emission, which peaks in the soft X-ray band and is emitted nearly isotropically. In the past thirty years, several thermally-emitting isolated neutron stars have been discovered thanks to X-ray all-sky surveys, observations targeted at the center of supernova …
The observed polarization properties of thermal radiation from isolated, cooling neutron stars depend on both the emission processes at the surface and the effects of the magnetized vacuum which surrounds the star. Here we investigate the polarized thermal emission from X-ray Dim Isolated Neutron Stars, taking RX J1856.5-3754 as a representative case. The physical conditions of the star outermost layers in these sources is still debated, and so we consider emission from a magnetized atmosphere and a condensed surface, accounting for the effects of vacuum polarization as the radiation propagate…
We study the thermal evolution of axisymmetric rotating neutron stars in full general relativity. To this aim we develop "NSCool 2D Rot", a major upgrade of the 1D neutron stars thermal evolution code "NSCool" by D. Page. As a first application of our new code we address the standard cooling of isolated neutron stars with rotation frequencies up to the mass shedding limit. We investigate the effects of the equation of state (EOS) by considering different combinations of core and crust EOSs. The results indicate complex time-dependent evolution of temperature distribution throughout the whole v…
We report the initial results of deep eROSITA monitoring of the "magnificent seven" isolated neutron stars (INSs). Thanks to a combination of high count statistics and good energy resolution, the eROSITA datasets unveil the increasingly complex energy distribution of these presumably simple thermal emitters. For three targets, we report the detection of multiple (in some cases, phase-dependent) spectral absorption features and deviations from the dominant thermal continuum. Unexpected long-term changes of spectral state and timing behaviour have additionally been observed for two INSs. The res…
On the basis of the PSRPOPPY software package, we developed an evolution model of population synthesis for isolated radio pulsars by incorporating the fan beam model, an alternative radio emission beam model to the widely used conal beam model. With proper choice of related models and parameters, we succesfully reproduced the observational distributions of Galactic longitude ($l$) and latitude ($b$), spin period, period derivative, dispersion measure and 1.4-GHz flux density for the 1214 isolated pulsars discovered by the Parkes multibeam and Swinburne pulsar surveys. The number of underlying …
For some neutron stars (NSs) in the binary systems, the masses have been accurately measured. While for the isolated neutron stars (INSs), no mass measurement has been reported yet. The situation will change soon thanks to the successful performance of the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER), with which the radius and mass of the isolated PSR J0030+0451 can be simultaneously measured. For most INSs, no mass measurements are possible for NICER because of observational limitations. Benefiting from recent significant progress made on constraining the equation of state of NSs, in th…
Isolated Neutron Stars are some of the most exciting stellar objects known to astronomers: they have the most extreme magnetic fields, with values up to $10^{15}$ G, and, with the exception of stellar-mass black holes, they are the most dense stars, with densities of $\approx 10^{14}$ g cm$^{-3}$. As such, they are perfect laboratories to test theories of electromagnetism and nuclear physics under conditions of magnetic field and density unattainable on Earth. In particular, the interaction of radiation with strong magnetic fields is the cause of the {\em vacuum birefringence}, an effect predi…
Peculiar groups of X-ray emitting isolated neutron stars, which include magnetars, the "Magnificent Seven", and central compact objects in supernova remnants, escape detection in standard pulsar surveys. Yet, they constitute a key element in understanding the neutron star evolution and phenomenology. Their use in population studies in the galactic scale has been hindered by the scarcity of their detection. The all-sky survey of eROSITA on-board the forthcoming Spectrum-RG mission has the unique potential to unveil the X-ray faint part of the population and constrain evolutionary models. To cre…
Since the discovery of the first radio pulsar fifty years ago, the population of neutron stars in our Galaxy has grown to over 2,600. A handful of these sources, exclusively seen in X-rays, show properties that are not observed in normal pulsars. Despite their scarcity, they are key to understanding aspects of the neutron star phenomenology and evolution. The forthcoming all-sky survey of eROSITA will unveil the X-ray faint end of the neutron star population at unprecedented sensitivity; therefore, it has the unique potential to constrain evolutionary models and advance our understanding of th…
Photon-axion mixing can create observable signatures in thermal spectra of isolated, cooling neutron stars. Their shape depends on the polarization properties of the radiation, which, in turn, are determined by the structure of stellar outermost layers. Here we investigate the effect of mixing on the spectrum and polarimetric observables, polarization fraction and polarization angle, using realistic models of surface emission. We focus on RX J1856.5-3754, the only source among the X-ray dim isolated neutron stars for which polarimetric measurements in the optical band were performed. Our resul…
Transient discs around isolated accreting neutron stars
Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Lomonosov Moscow State University（列别捷夫天体物理研究所，莫斯科国立大学）；Department of Physics, Lomonosov Moscow State University（物理学系，莫斯科国立大学）；The Raymond and Beverly Sackler School of Physics and Astronomy, Tel Aviv University（雷蒙德和贝弗利·萨克勒物理与天文学院，特拉维夫大学）；Theoretical Astrophysics, IAAT, University of Tübingen（理论天体物理学，IAAT，蒂宾根大学）
The rotational properties and X-ray luminosity of PSR J0726-2612 are close to those of dim isolated neutron stars (XDINs). It was proposed that the source could be the first XDIN with observable pulsed radio emission. We have investigated the long-term evolution of the source to test this possibility in the fallback disc model. Reasonable model curves that can account for the evolution of PSR J0726-2612 consistently with its radio pulsar property are similar to those of high-B radio pulsars with dipole field strength $B_0 \sim$ a few $\times 10^{12}~$G at the pole of the star. In the same mode…
We report the results of follow-up investigations of a possible new thermally emitting isolated neutron star (INS), 4XMM J022141.5-735632, using observations from XMM-Newton and Spectrum Roentgen Gamma (SRG) eROSITA. The analysis is complemented by Legacy Survey imaging in the optical and near-infrared wavelengths. The X-ray source, the first to be targeted by XMM-Newton in an effort to identify new INS candidates from the fourth generation of the XMM-Newton serendipitous source catalogue Data Release 9 (4XMM-DR9), shows a remarkably soft energy distribution and a lack of catalogued counterpar…
Neutron star X-ray binaries (NS XRBs) associated with supernova remnants (SNRs) are the youngest X-ray binaries that can provide insights into the early evolution of X-ray binaries and the formation properties of neutron stars. There are an increasing number of NS XRBs discovered to be harbored in SNRs in our and nearby galaxies. In this work, we perform binary population synthesis calculations to simulate the population of NS XRBs associated with SNRs for different types of companions, including Roche-lobe overfilling main-sequence stars, Be stars and supergiants. We estimate their birthrates…
X-ray emission from the surface of isolated neutron stars (NSs) has been now observed in a variety of sources. The ubiquitous presence of pulsations clearly indicates that thermal photons either come from a limited area, possibly heated by some external mechanism, or from the entire (cooling) surface but with an inhomogeneous temperature distribution. In a NS the thermal map is shaped by the magnetic field topology, since heat flows in the crust mostly along the magnetic field lines. Self-consistent surface thermal maps can hence be produced by simulating the coupled magnetic and thermal evolu…
X-ray dim isolated neutron stars (XDINSs) are characterized by Planckian spectra in X-ray bands, but show optical/ultraviolet(UV) excesses which are the measured photometry exceeding that is extrapolated from X-ray spectra. To solve this problem, a radiative model of bremsstrahlung emission from a plasma atmosphere is established in the regime of strangeon star. A strangeon star atmosphere could simply be regarded as the upper layer of a normal neutron star. This plasma atmosphere, formed and maintained by the ISM-accreted matter due to the so-called strangeness barrier, is supposed to be of t…
We have studied the spin-down induced phase transition in cold, isolated neutron stars in this work. After birth, as the star slows down, its central density rises and crosses the critical density of phase transition, and a quark core is seeded inside the star. Intermediate mass stars are more likely to have a quark seeding in their lifetime at birth. Smaller neutron stars do not have a quark core and remain neutron stars throughout their life, whereas in massive stars, a quark core exists at their center from birth. In intermediate and massive stars, the quark core grows further as the star s…
High-velocity neutron stars (HVNSs) that were kicked out from their birth location can be potentially identified with their large proper motions, and possibly with large parallax, when they come across the solar neighborhood. In this paper, we study the feasibility of hunting isolated HVNSs in wide-area optical surveys by modeling the evolution of NS luminosity taking into account spin-down and thermal radiation. Assuming the upcoming 10-year VRO LSST observation, our model calculations predict that about 10 HVNSs mainly consisting of pulsars with ages of $10^4$--$10^5$ yr and thermally emitti…
Strongly magnetized isolated neutron stars (NSs) are categorized into two families, according mainly to their magnetic field strength. The one with a higher magnetic field of $10^{14}$ - $10^{15}$ G is called magnetar, characterized with repeated short bursts, and the other is X-ray isolated neutron star (XINS) with $10^{13}$ G. Both magnetars and XINSs show thermal emission in X-rays, but it has been considered that the thermal spectrum of magnetars is reproduced with a two-temperature blackbody (2BB), while that of XINSs shows only a single-temperature blackbody (1BB) and the temperature is …
The fundamental constituent of matter at high temperature and density has intrigued physicists for quite some time. Recent results from heavy-ion colliders have enriched the Quantum Chromodynamics phase diagram at high temperatures and low baryon density. However, the phase at low temperatures and finite (mostly intermediate) baryon density remain unexplored. Theoretical Quantum Chromodynamics calculation predicts phase transition from hadronic matter to quark matter at such densities. Presently, the best laboratories available to probe such densities lie at the core of neutron stars. Recent r…
We present a quantitative analysis of superfluidity and superconductivity in dense matter from observations of isolated neutron stars in the context of the minimal cooling model. Our new approach produces the best fit neutron triplet superfluid critical temperature, the best fit proton singlet superconducting critical temperature, and their associated statistical uncertainties. We find that the neutron triplet critical temperature is likely $2.09^{+4.37}_{-1.41} \times 10^{8}$ K and that the proton singlet critical temperature is $7.59^{+2.48}_{-5.81} \times 10^{9}$ K. However, we also show th…
In this work we study the formation of the first two black hole-neutron star (BHNS) mergers detected in gravitational waves (GW200115 and GW200105) from massive stars in wide isolated binary systems - the isolated binary evolution channel. We use 560 BHNS binary population synthesis model realizations from Broekgaarden et al. (2021a) and show that the system properties (chirp mass, component masses and mass ratios) of both GW200115 and GW200105 match predictions from the isolated binary evolution channel. We also show that most model realizations can account for the local BHNS merger rate dens…
