Valuable information about the neutron star interior can be obtained by comparing observations of thermal radiation from a cooling neutron star crust with theoretical models. Nuclear burning of lighter elements that diffuse to deeper layers of the envelope can alter the relation between surface and interior temperatures and can change the chemical composition over time. We calculate new temperature relations and consider two effects of diffusive nuclear burning (DNB) for H-C envelopes. First, we consider the effect of a changing envelope composition and find that hydrogen is consumed on short timescales and our temperature evolution simulations correspond to those of a hydrogen-poor envelope within ~100 days. The transition from a hydrogen-rich to a hydrogen-poor envelope is potentially observable in accreting NS systems as an additional initial decline in surface temperature at early times after the outburst. Second, we find that DNB can produce a non-negligible heat flux, such that the total luminosity can be dominated by DNB in the envelope rather than heat from the deep interior. However, without continual accretion, heating by DNB in H-C envelopes is only relevant for <1-80 days after the end of an accretion outburst, as the amount of light elements is rapidly depleted. Comparison to crust cooling data shows that DNB does not remove the need for an additional shallow heating source. We conclude that solving the time-dependent equations of the burning region in the envelope self-consistently in thermal evolution models instead of using static temperature relations would be valuable in future cooling studies.
Accreting neutron stars exhibit Type I X-ray bursts from both frequent hydrogen/helium flashes as well as rare carbon flashes. The latter (superbursts) ignite in the ashes of the former. Hydrogen/helium bursts, however, are thought to produce insufficient carbon to power superbursts. Stable burning could create the required carbon, but this was predicted to only occur at much larger accretion rates than where superbursts are observed. We present models of a new steady-state regime of stable hydrogen and helium burning that produces pure carbon ashes. Hot CNO burning of hydrogen heats the neutr…
The stability of thermonuclear burning of hydrogen and helium accreted onto neutron stars is strongly dependent on the mass accretion rate. The burning behavior is observed to change from Type I X-ray bursts to stable burning, with oscillatory burning occurring at the transition. Simulations predict the transition at a ten times higher mass accretion rate than observed. Using numerical models we investigate how the transition depends on the hydrogen, helium, and CNO mass fractions of the accreted material, as well as on the nuclear reaction rates of triple alpha and the hot-CNO breakout reacti…
We analyze temporal evolution of the number of accreting white dwarfs with shell hydrogen burning in semidetached and detached binaries. We consider a stellar system in which star formation lasts for 10 Gyr with a constant rate, as well as a system in which the same amount of stars is formed in a single burst lasting for 1 Gyr. Evolution of the number of white dwarfs is confronted to the evolution of occurrence rate of events that usually are identified with SN Ia or accretion-induced collapses, i.e. with accumulation of Chandrasekhar mass by a white dwarf or a merger of a pair of CO white dwa…
Hydrogen and/or helium accreted by a neutron star from a binary companion may undergo thermonuclear fusion. At different mass accretion rates different burning regimes are discerned. Theoretical models predict helium fusion to proceed as a thermonuclear runaway for accretion rates below the Eddington limit and as stable burning above this limit. Observations, however, place the boundary close to 10% of the Eddington limit. We study the effect of rotationally induced transport processes on the stability of helium burning. For the first time detailed calculations of thin helium shell burning on …
We examine the properties of white dwarfs (WDs) accreting hydrogen-rich matter in and near the stable burning regime of accretion rates as modeled by time-dependent calculations done with Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA). We report the stability boundary for WDs of masses between 0.51 solar masses and 1.34 solar masses as found via time-dependent calculations. We also examine recurrent novae that are accreting at rates close to, but below, the stable burning limit and report their recurrence times and ignition masses. Our dense grid in accretion rates finds the expected m…
The carbon-oxygen white dwarf (CO WD) + He star channel is one of the promising ways for producing type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) with short delay times. Recent studies found that carbon under the He-shell can be ignited if the mass-accretion rate of CO WD is higher than a critical rate (about 2 * 10^-6 Msun/yr), triggering an inwardly propagating carbon flame. Previous studies usually supposed that the off-centre carbon flame would reach the centre, resulting in the formation of an oxygen-neon (ONe) WD that will collapse into a neutron star. However, the process of off-centre carbon burning is n…
Diffusive nuclear burning of H by an underlying material capable of capturing protons can readily consume H from the surface of neutron stars (NSs) during their early cooling history. In the absence of subsequent accretion, it will be depleted from the photosphere. We now extend diffusive nuclear burning to He, motivated by the recent observation by Ho \& Heinke of a carbon atmosphere on the NS in the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant. We calculate the equilibrium structure of He on an underlying $α$ capturing material, accounting for thermal, mass defect, and Coulomb corrections on the stratific…
A critical relation in the study of neutron star cooling is the one between surface temperature and interior temperature. This relation is determined by the composition of the neutron star envelope and can be affected by the process of diffusive nuclear burning (DNB), which occurs when elements diffuse to depths where the density and temperature are sufficiently high to ignite nuclear burning. We calculate models of H-He and He-C envelopes that include DNB and obtain analytic temperature relations that can be used in neutron star cooling simulations. We find that DNB can lead to a rapidly chan…
Thermonuclear burning on the surface of accreting neutron stars is observed to stabilize at accretion rates almost an order of magnitude lower than theoretical models predict. One way to resolve this discrepancy is by including a base heating flux that can stabilize the layer. We focus our attention on pure helium accretion, for which we calculate the effect of a base heating flux on the critical accretion rate at which thermonuclear burning stabilizes. We use the MESA stellar evolution code to calculate $\dot m_{\rm crit}$ as a function of the base flux, and derive analytic fitting formulae f…
We use the 2011 Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) proportional counter array (PCA) data of the 401 Hz accreting pulsar and burster IGR J17498-2921 to perform timing analysis and time-resolved spectroscopy of 12 thermonuclear X-ray bursts. We confirm previously reported burst oscillations from this source with a much higher significance (8.8σ). We notice that the bursts can be divided into three groups: big photospheric radius expansion (PRE) bursts are about ten times more luminous than medium bursts, while the latter are about ten times more luminous than small bursts. The PCA field-of-view …
Nuclear burning near the surface of an accreting neutron star produces ashes that, when compressed deeper by further accretion, alter the star's thermal and compositional structure. Bygone nucleosynthesis can be constrained by the impact of compressed ashes on the thermal relaxation of quiescent neutron star transients. In particular, Urca cooling nuclei pairs in nuclear burning ashes, which cool the neutron star crust via neutrino emission from electron-capture/beta-decay cycles, provide signatures of prior nuclear burning over the ~century timescales it takes to accrete to the electron-captu…
AM Canum Venaticorum (AM CVn) binaries consist of a degenerate helium donor and a helium, C/O, or O/Ne WD accretor, with accretion rates of Mdot = 1e-13 - 1e-5 Msol/yr. For accretion rates < 1e-6 Msol/yr, the accreted helium ignites unstably, resulting in a helium flash. As the donor mass and Mdot decrease, the ignition mass increases and eventually becomes larger than the donor mass, yielding a "last-flash" ignition mass of < 0.1 Msol. Bildsten et al. (2007) predicted that the largest outbursts of these systems will lead to dynamical burning and thermonuclear supernovae. In this paper, we stu…
Supersoft X-ray sources (SSS) have been identified as white dwarfs accreting from binary companions and undergoing nuclear-burning of the accreted material on their surface. Although expected to be a relatively numerous population from both binary evolution models and their identification as Type Ia supernova progenitor candidates, given the very soft spectrum of SSSs relatively few are known. Here we report on the X-ray and optical properties of 1RXS J050526.3-684628, a previously unidentified accreting nuclear-burning white dwarf located in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). XMM-Newton observ…
Superbursts are hours-long X-ray flares attributed to the thermonuclear runaway burning of carbon-rich material in the envelope of accreting neutron stars. By studying the details of the X-ray light curve, properties of carbon combustion can be determined. In particular, we show that the shape of the rise of the light curve is set by the the slope of the temperature profile left behind by the carbon flame. We analyse RXTE/PCA observations of 4U 1636-536 and separate the direct neutron star emission from evolving photoionized reflection and persistent spectral components. This procedure results…
The study of how neutron stars cool over time can provide invaluable insights into fundamental physics such as the nuclear equation of state and superconductivity and superfluidity. A critical relation in neutron star cooling is the one between observed surface temperature and interior temperature. This relation is determined by the composition of the neutron star envelope and can be influenced by the process of diffusive nuclear burning (DNB). We calculate models of envelopes that include DNB and find that DNB can lead to a rapidly changing envelope composition which can be relevant for under…
The formation of supermassive stars (SMSs) via rapid mass accretion and their direct collapse into black holes (BHs) is a promising pathway for sowing seeds of supermassive BHs in the early universe. We calculate the evolution of rapidly accreting SMSs by solving the stellar structure equations including nuclear burning as well as general relativistic (GR) effects up to the onset of the collapse. We find that such SMSs have less concentrated structure than fully-convective counterpart, which is often postulated for non-accreting ones. This effect stabilizes the stars against GR instability eve…
The double-degenerate model, involving the merger of double carbon-oxygen white dwarfs (CO WDs), is one of the two classic models for the progenitors of type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). Previous studies suggested that off-centre carbon burning would occur if the mass-accretion rate (Macc) is relatively high during the merging process, leading to the formation of oxygen-neon (ONe) cores that may collapse into neutron stars. However, the off-centre carbon burning is still incompletely understood, especially when the inwardly propagating burning wave reaches the centre. In this paper, we aim to inves…
Accreting, nuclear-burning white dwarfs have been deemed to be candidate progenitors of type Ia supernovae, and to account for supersoft X-ray sources, novae, etc. depending on their accretion rates. We have carried out a binary population synthesis study of their populations using two algorithms. In the first, we use the binary population synthesis code \textsf{BSE} as a baseline for the "rapid" approach commonly used in such studies. In the second, we employ a "hybrid" approach, in which we use \textsf{BSE} to generate a population of white dwarfs (WD) with non-degenerate companions on the v…
The crust of accreting neutron stars plays a central role in many different observational phenomena. In these stars, heavy elements produced by H-He burning in the rapid proton capture (rp-) process continually freeze to form new crust. In this paper, we explore the expected composition of the solid phase. We first demonstrate using molecular dynamics that two distinct types of chemical separation occur, depending on the composition of the rp-process ashes. We then calculate phase diagrams for three-component mixtures and use them to determine the allowed crust compositions. We show that, for …
Now 50 years since the existence of the neutron star crust was proposed, we review the current understanding of the nuclear physics of the outer layers of accreting neutron stars. Nuclei produced during nuclear burning replace the nascent composition of the neutron star ocean and crust. Non-equilibrium nuclear reactions driven by compression alter the outer thermal structure and chemical composition, leaving observable imprints on astronomical phenomena. As observations of bursting neutron stars and cooling neutron stars have increased, the recent volume of astronomical data allows new insight…
Effects of a new triple-alpha reaction rate on the ignition of carbon-oxygen white dwarfs accreting helium in a binary systems have been investigated. The ignition points determine the properties of a thermonuclear explosion of a Type Ia supernova. We examine the cases of different accretion rates of helium and different initial masses of the white dwarf, which was studied in detail by Nomoto. We find that for all cases from slow to intermediate accretion rates, nuclear burnings are ignited at the helium layers. As a consequence, carbon deflagration would be triggered for the lower accretion r…
White dwarfs accreting from helium stars can stably burn at the accreted rate and avoid the challenge of mass loss associated with unstable Helium burning that is a concern for many Type Ia supernovae scenarios. We study binaries with helium stars of mass $1.25 M_\odot\le M_{\rm{He}} \le 1.8 M_\odot$, which have lost their hydrogen rich envelopes in an earlier common envelope event and now orbit with periods ($P_{\rm orb}$) of several hours with non-rotating $0.84$ and $1.0 M_\odot$ C/O WDs. The helium stars fill their Roche lobes (RLs) after exhaustion of central helium and donate helium on t…
We present an extensive study of Boussinesq thermal convection including a temperature-dependent internal heating source, based on numerical three-dimensional simulations. The temperature dependence mimics triple-$α$ nuclear reactions and the fluid geometry is a rotating spherical shell. These are key ingredients for the study of convective accreting neutron star oceans. A dimensionless parameter ${\rm Ra}_n$, measuring the relevance of nuclear heating, is defined. We explore how flow characteristics change with increasing ${\rm Ra}_n$ and give an astrophysical motivation. The onset of convect…
The heavy element ashes of rp-process hydrogen and helium burning in accreting neutron stars are compressed to high density where they freeze, forming the outer crust of the star. We calculate the chemical separation on freezing for a number of different nuclear mixtures resulting from a range of burning conditions for the rp-process. We confirm the generic result that light nuclei are preferentially retained in the liquid and heavy nuclei in the solid. This is in agreement with the previous study of a 17-component mixture of rp-process ashes by Horowitz et al. (2007), but extends that result …
The effects of a new triple-$α$ reaction rate (OKK rate) on the helium flash of a helium accreting neutron star in a binary system have been investigated. Since the ignition points determine the properties of a thermonuclear flash of type I X-ray bursts, we examine the cases of different accretion rates, $dM/dt (\dot{M})$, of helium from $3\times10^{-10} M_{\odot} \rm yr^{-1}$ to $3\times10^{-8} M_{\odot} \rm yr^{-1}$, which could cover the observed accretion rates. We find that for the cases of low accretion rates, nuclear burnings are ignited at the helium layers of rather low densities. As …
Using a Wigner-Seitz approximation with spherical cells, we re-analyze a widely used single nucleus model of accreting neutron star crust. We calculate beta disequilibrium within the crust, which is sizable, and implies that neutron and baryon chemical potentials, $μ_n$ and $μ_{\rm b}$, are not equal. We include also non-equilibrium reactions, driven by matter compression, and proceeding in the reaction layers. The constancy of $e^Φμ_n$, where the spacetime metric component $g_{00}=e^{2Φ}$, in the shells between the reaction layers is not applicable, because single electron captures are blocke…
Superbursts are rare day-long Type I X-ray bursts due to carbon flashes on accreting neutron stars in low-mass X-ray binaries. They heat the neutron star envelope such that the burning of accreted hydrogen and helium becomes stable, and the common shorter X-ray bursts are quenched. Short bursts reappear only after the envelope cools down. We study multi-zone one-dimensional models of the neutron star envelope, in which we follow carbon burning during the superburst, and we include hydrogen and helium burning in the atmosphere above. We investigate both the case of a solar composition and a hel…
Hotspots on the surface of accreting neutron stars have been directly observed via pulsations in the lightcurves of X-ray pulsars. They are thought to occur due to magnetic channelling of the accreted fuel to the neutron star magnetic poles. Some X-ray pulsars exhibit burst oscillations during Type I thermonuclear X-ray bursts which are thought to be caused by asymmetries in the burning. In rapidly rotating neutron stars, it has been shown that the lower gravity at the equator can lead to preferential ignition of X-ray bursts at this location. These models, however, do not include the effect o…
The excess of the rate of type I X-ray bursts over that expected when the matter fallen between bursts completely burns out in a thermonuclear explosion is explained in terms of the model of a spreading layer of matter coming from the accretion disk over the neutron star surface. Such excess is observed in bursters with a high persistent luminosity, $4\times 10^{36}\ \mbox{erg s}^{-1}\leq L_{X}\leq 2\times 10^{37}\ \mbox{erg s}^{-1}$. In this model the accreting matter settles to the stellar surface mainly in two high-latitude ring zones. Despite the subsequent spreading of matter over the ent…
Nuclear burning and its dependence on the mass accretion rate are fundamental ingredients for describing the complicated observational phenomenology of neutron stars in binary systems. Motivated by high quality burst rate data emerging from large statistical studies, we report general calculations relating bursting rate to mass accretion rate and neutron star rotation frequency. In this first work we neglect general relativistic effects and accretion topology, though we discuss where their inclusion should play a role. The relations we derive are suitable for different burning regimes and prov…
We present 15 high mass X-ray binary (HMXB) candidates in the disk of M31 for which we are able to infer compact object type, spectral type of the donor star, and age using multiwavelength observations from NuSTAR, Chandra, and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The hard X-ray colors and luminosities from NuSTAR permit the tentative classification of accreting X-ray binary systems by compact object type, distinguishing black hole from neutron star systems. We find hard state black holes, pulsars, and non-magnetized neutron stars associated with optical point source counterparts with similar fre…
Type I X-ray bursts are thermonuclear burning events which occur on the surfaces of accreting neutron stars. Burning begins in a localised spot in the star's ocean layer before propagating across the entire surface as a deflagration. On the scale of the entire star, the burning front can be thought of as discontinuity. To model this, we investigated the reactive Riemann problem for relativistic deflagrations and detonations and developed a numerical solver. Unlike for the Newtonian Riemann problem, where only the velocity perpendicular to the interface is relevant, in the relativistic case the…
Thermonuclear runaway burning of carbon is in rare cases observed from accreting neutron stars as day-long X-ray flares called superbursts. In the few cases where the onset is observed, superbursts exhibit a short precursor burst at the start. In each instance, however, the data was of insufficient quality for spectral analysis of the precursor. Using data from the propane anti-coincidence detector of the PCA instrument on RXTE, we perform the first detailed time resolved spectroscopy of precursors. For a superburst from 4U 1820-30 we demonstrate the presence of photospheric radius expansion. …
Burst oscillations, a phenomenon observed in a significant fraction of Type I (thermonuclear) X-ray bursts, involve the development of highly asymmetric brightness patches in the burning surface layers of accreting neutron stars. Intrinsically interesting as nuclear phenomena, they are also important as probes of dense matter physics and the strong gravity, high magnetic field environment of the neutron star surface. Burst oscillation frequency is also used to measure stellar spin, and doubles the sample of rapidly rotating (above 10 Hz) accreting neutron stars with known spins. Although the m…
(${Abridged~version}$) We review how the single degenerate models for Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) works. In the binary star system of a white dwarf (WD) and its non-degenerate companion star, the WD accretes either H-rich matter or He and undergoes H and He shell-burning. We summarize how such shell-burning depend on the accretion rate and the WD mass and how the WD blows strong wind. We identify the following evolutionary routes for the accreting WD to trigger a thermonuclear explosion. With a decreasing rate with time, 5 phases are observed: 1. The WD increases its mass by stable H burning a…
We discuss the effect of chemical separation as matter freezes at the base of the ocean of an accreting neutron star, and argue that the retention of light elements in the liquid acts as a source of buoyancy that drives a slow but continual mixing of the ocean, enriching it substantially in light elements, and leading to a relatively uniform composition with depth. We first consider the timescales associated with different processes that can redistribute elements in the ocean, including convection, sedimentation, crystallization, and diffusion. We then calculate the steady state structure of t…
Runaway thermonuclear burning of a layer of accumulated fuel on the surface of a compact star provides a brief but intense display of stellar nuclear processes. For neutron stars accreting from a binary companion, these events manifest as thermonuclear (type-I) X-ray bursts, and recur on typical timescales of hours to days. We measured the burst rate as a function of accretion rate, from seven neutron stars with known spin rates, using a burst sample accumulated over several decades. At the highest accretion rates, the burst rate is lower for faster spinning stars. The observations imply that …
We review aspects of the hydrodynamical combustion of nuclear matter to strange quark matter in a neutron star. Numerical studies on non-premixed combustion that consistently include hydrodynamical flows in a reactive-diffusive setup show that in 1D, the conversion (burning) front moves at sub-sonic speeds. Although the front eventually comes to a halt (in the star's reference frame), it still has ud matter falling onto it, and so is capable of converting the rest of the star. However, in the process, we also find that neutrino cooling of the interface causes it to wrinkle, laying a platform f…
IGR J17062-6143 is an ultra-compact X-ray binary (UCXB) with an orbital period of 37.96 min. It harbours a millisecond X-ray pulsar that is spinning at 163 Hz and and has continuously been accreting from its companion star since 2006. Determining the composition of the accreted matter in UCXBs is of high interest for studies of binary evolution and thermonuclear burning on the surface of neutron stars. Here, we present a multi-wavelength study of IGR J17062-6143 aimed to determine the detailed properties of its accretion disc and companion star. The multi-epoch photometric UV to near-infrared …
We present results from a numerical solution to the burning of neutron matter inside a cold neutron star into stable (u,d,s) quark matter. Our method solves hydrodynamical flow equations in 1D with neutrino emission from weak equilibrating reactions, and strange quark diffusion across the burning front. We also include entropy change due to heat released in forming the stable quark phase. Our numerical results suggest burning front laminar speeds of 0.002-0.04 times the speed of light, much faster than previous estimates derived using only a reactive-diffusive description. Analytic solutions t…
We study the evolution of accreting oxygen-neon (ONe) white dwarfs (WDs), with a particular emphasis on the effects of the presence of the carbon-burning products $\mathrm{^{23}Na}$ and $\mathrm{^{25}Mg}$. These isotopes lead to substantial cooling of the WD via the $\mathrm{^{25}Mg}$-$\mathrm{^{25}Na}$, $\mathrm{^{23}Na}$-$\mathrm{^{23}Ne}$, and $\mathrm{^{25}Na}$-$\mathrm{^{25}Ne}$ Urca pairs. We derive an analytic formula for the peak Urca-process cooling rate and use it to obtain a simple expression for the temperature to which the Urca process cools the WD. Our estimates are equally appli…
Massive-star binaries can undergo a phase where one of the two stars expands during its advanced evolutionary stage as a giant and envelops its companion, ejecting the hydrogen envelope and tightening its orbit. Such a common envelope phase is required to tighten the binary orbit in the formation of many of the observed X-ray binaries and merging compact binary systems. In the formation scenario for neutron star binaries, the system might pass through a phase where a neutron star spirals into the envelope of its giant star companion. These phases lead to mass accretion onto the neutron star. A…
Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)（中国科学院云南天文台）；International Centre of Supernovae, Yunnan Key Laboratory（超新星国际中心，云南省重点实验室）；University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学）；Center for Astronomical Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院天文大科学研究中心）
The effect of pressure confinement on the maximum mass of rapidly accreting supermassive stars
Niels Bohr International Academy, The Niels Bohr Institute（尼尔斯·玻尔国际学院，尼尔斯·玻尔研究所）；Center of Gravity, Niels Bohr Institute（引力中心，尼尔斯·玻尔研究所）；Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA)（奥地利科学与技术研究所）
Observations of jets from young stellar objects reveal the asymmetric outflows from some sources. A large set of $2.5$D MHD simulations has been carried out for axisymmetric viscous/diffusive disc accretion to rotating magnetized stars for the purpose of assessing the conditions where the outflows or jets are asymmetric relative to the equatorial plane. We consider initial magnetic fields that are symmetric about the equatorial plane and consist of a radially distributed field threading the disc (disc-field) and a stellar dipole field.({\bf 1}). For pure disc-fields the symmetry or asymmetry o…
While a white dwarf is, from a theoretical perspective, the most plausible primary star in Type Ia supernova (SN Ia), many other candidates have not been formally ruled out. Shock energy deposited in the envelope of any exploding primary contributes to the early SN brightness and, since this radiation energy is degraded by expansion after the explosion, the diffusive luminosity depends on the initial primary radius. We present a new non-detection limit of the nearby SN Ia 2011fe, obtained what appears to be just 4 hours after explosion, allowing us to directly constrain the initial primary rad…
