低质量X射线双星中的中子星被认为会因地壳中吸积诱导的放热核反应而被加热。能量释放和加热源的位置是热演化模型的重要组成部分。这里我们提出了对恒地壳三个区域能量释放的热力学一致计算：外壳-内壳界面、内壳上层（密度最高至ρ≤2×10^12 g cm^-3），以及其下方的壳层。我们考虑了三种具有代表性的热核灰烬模型：Superburst、Extreme rp和Kepler灰烬。每个区域的能量释放通过外壳-内壳界面处的压力进行参数化，该压力包含了与最深内壳层物理相关的所有不确定性。我们的计算尤其使我们能够设定净能量释放（按每个吸积重子计）的新下限：Extreme rp灰烬为Q≳0.28 MeV，Superburst和Kepler灰烬为Q约0.43–0.51 MeV。
英文摘要：
Neutron stars in low-mass X-ray binaries are thought to be heated up by accretion-induced exothermic nuclear reactions in the crust. The energy release and the location of the heating sources are important ingredients of the thermal evolution models. Here we present thermodynamically consistent calculations of the energy release in three zones of the stellar crust: at the outer-inner crust interface, in the upper layers of the inner crust (up to the density $ρ\leq 2\times 10^{12}$ g cm$^{-3}$), and in the underlying crustal layers. We consider three representative models of thermonuclear ashes (Superburst, Extreme rp, and Kepler ashes). The energy release in each zone is parametrized by the pressure at the outer-inner crust interface, which encodes all uncertainties related to the physics of the deepest inner-crust layers. Our calculations allow us, in particular, to set new lower limits on the net energy release (per accreted baryon): $Q\gtrsim0.28$ MeV for Extreme rp ashes and Q~0.43-0.51 MeV for Superburst and Kepler ashes.
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 …
The temporal heating and subsequent cooling of the crusts of transiently accreting neutron stars carries unique information about their structure and a variety of nuclear reaction processes. We report on a new Chandra Director's Discretionary Time observation of the globular cluster Terzan 5, aimed to monitor the transiently accreting 11-Hz X-ray pulsar IGR J17480-2446 after the cessation of its recent 10-week long accretion outburst. During the observation, which was performed ~125 days into quiescence, the source displays a thermal spectrum that fits to a neutron star atmosphere model with a…
The observed thermal relaxation of transiently accreting neutron stars during quiescence periods in low-mass X-ray binaries suggests the existence of unknown heat sources in the shallow layers of neutron-star crust. Making use of existing experimental nuclear data, we estimate the maximum possible amount of heat that can be deposited in the outer crust of an accreting neutron star due to electron captures and pycnonuclear fusion reactions triggered by the burial of X-ray burst ashes.
We report on a Chandra Director's Discretionary Time observation of the globular cluster Terzan 5, carried out ~7 weeks after the cessation of the 2010 outburst of the newly discovered transiently accreting 11 Hz X-ray pulsar. We detect a thermal spectrum that can be fitted with a neutron star atmosphere model with a temperature for an observer at infinity of kT~100 eV, and a quiescent thermal bolometric luminosity of Lq~2E33 erg/s for an assumed distance of 5.5 kpc. The thermal emission is elevated above the quiescent base level measured in 2003 and 2009, i.e., prior to the recent accretion o…
It is assumed that accreting neutron stars (NSs) in LMXBs are heated due to the compression of the existing crust by the accreted matter which gives rise to nuclear reactions in the crust. It has been shown that most of the energy is released deep in the crust by pycnonuclear reactions involving low-Z elements. We discuss if NSs in very-faint X-ray transients (VFXTs; those which have peak X-ray luminosities < 1E36 erg/s) can be used to test this model. Unfortunately we cannot conclusively answer this because of the large uncertainties in our estimates of the accretion rate history of those VFX…
The thermal conductivity of a dense {\it multi-component} plasma is critical to the modeling of accreting neutron stars. To this end, we perform large-scale molecular dynamics simulations to calculate the static structure factor of the dense multi-component plasma in the neutron star crust from near the photosphere-ocean boundary to the vicinity of the neutron drip point. The structure factors are used to validate a microscopic linear mixing rule that is valid for arbitrarily complex plasmas over a wide range of Coulomb couplings. The microscopic mixing rule in turn implies and validates the l…
The transient neutron star (NS) low-mass X-ray binary MAXI J0556$-$332 provides a rare opportunity to study NS crust heating and subsequent cooling for multiple outbursts of the same source. We examine {\it MAXI}, {\it Swift}, {\it Chandra}, and {\it XMM-Newton} data of MAXI J0556$-$332 obtained during and after three accretion outbursts of different durations and brightness. We report on new data obtained after outburst III. The source has been tracked up to $\sim$1800 d after the end of outburst I. Outburst I heated the crust strongly, but no significant reheating was observed during outburs…
MAXI J0556-332 is the hottest transient accreting neutron star at the beginning of its quiescence. A theoretical model with crustal heating indicates that an additional shallow heat source of Qshallow > 6 MeV per accreted nucleon is required in the shallow outer crust with respect to the deeper star crust by considering the observed decline in accretion rate at the end of outburst. However, the physical source of this shallow heating is still unclear. In the present investigation, we performed stellar evolutionary calculations, adopting the effects of outburst behavior of the accretion rate. A…
We calculate the thermal conductivity of electrons for the strongly correlated multi-component ion plasma expected in the outer layers of neutron star's crust employing a Path Integral Monte Carlo (PIMC) approach. This allows us to isolate the low energy response of the ions and use it to calculate the electron scattering rate and the electron thermal conductivity. We find that the scattering rate is enhanced by a factor 2-4 compared to earlier calculations based on the simpler electron-impurity scattering formalism. This findings directly impacts the interpretation of thermal relaxation obser…
An accretion outburst in an X-ray transient deposits material onto the neutron star primary; this accumulation of matter induces reactions in the neutron star's crust. During the accretion outburst these reactions heat the crust out of thermal equilibrium with the core. When accretion halts, the crust cools to its long-term equilibrium temperature on observable timescales. Here we examine the accreting neutron star transient MAXI J0556-332, which is the hottest transient, at the start of quiescence, observed to date. Models of the quiescent light curve require a large deposition of heat in the…
Accreting neutron stars host a number of astronomical observables which can be used to infer the properties of the underlying dense matter. These observables are sensitive to the heating and cooling processes taking place in the accreted neutron star (NS) crust. Within the past few years it has become apparent that electron-capture/beta-decay (urca) cycles can operate within the NS crust at high temperatures. Layers of nuclei undergoing urca cycling can create a thermal barrier, or Great Wall, between heating occurring deep in the crust and the regions above the urca layers. This paper briefly…
We study thermal relaxation in a neutron star after internal heating events (outbursts) in the crust. We consider thin and thick spherically symmetric heaters, superfluid and non-superfluid crusts, stars with open and forbidden direct Urca processes in their cores. In particular, we analyze long-term thermal relaxation after deep crustal heating produced by nuclear transformations in fully or partly accreted crusts of transiently accreting neutron stars. This long-term relaxation has a typical relaxation time and an overall finite duration time for the crust to thermally equilibrate with the c…
Observed temperatures of transiently accreting neutron stars in the quiescent state are generally believed to be supported by deep crustal heating, associated with non-equilibrium exothermic reactions in the crust. Traditionally, these reactions are studied by considering nuclear evolution governed by compression of the accreted matter. Here we show that this approach has a basic weakness, that is that in some regions of the inner crust the conservative forces, applied for matter components (nuclei and neutrons), are not in mechanical equilibrium. In principle the force balance can be restored…
We examine four candidate mechanisms that could explain the high surface temperatures of magnetars. (1) Heat flux from the liquid core heated by ambipolar diffusion. It could sustain the observed surface luminosity $L_s\approx 10^{35}$ erg/s if core heating offsets neutrino cooling at a temperature $T_{core}>6\times 10^8$ K. This scenario is viable if the core magnetic field exceeds $10^{16}$ G and the heat-blanketing envelope of the magnetar has a light element composition. We find however that the lifetime of such a hot core should be shorter than the typical observed lifetime of magnetars. …
The heating and cooling of transiently accreting neutron stars provides a powerful probe of the structure and composition of their crust. Observations of superbursts and crust cooling of accretion-heated neutron stars require more heat release than is accounted for in current models. Obtaining firm constraints on the depth and magnitude of this extra heat is challenging and therefore its origin remains uncertain. We report on Swift and XMM-Newton observations of the transient neutron star low-mass X-ray binary XTE J1709-267, which were made in 2012 September-October when it transitioned to qui…
A quasi-statistical equilibrium model is constructed to simulate the multicomponent composition of the crust of an accreting neutron star. The ashes of rp-process nucleosynthesis are driven by accretion through a series of electron captures, neutron emissions, and pycnonuclear fusions up to densities near the transition between the neutron star crust and core. A liquid droplet model which includes nuclear shell effects is used to provide nuclear masses far from stability. Reaction pathways are determined consistently with the nuclear mass model. The nuclear symmetry energy is an important unce…
Observed thermal emission from accreting neutron stars (NSs) in a quiescent state is believed to be powered by nonequilibrium nuclear reactions that heat the stellar crust (deep crustal heating paradigm). We derive a simple universal formula for the heating efficiency, assuming that an NS has a fully accreted crust. We further show that, within the recently proposed thermodynamically consistent approach to the accreted crust, the heat release can be parametrized by the only one parameter -- the pressure $P_{\rm oi}$ at the outer-inner crust interface (as we argue, this pressure should not nece…
Monitoring the cooling of neutron-star crusts heated during accretion outbursts allows us to infer the physics of the dense matter present in the crust. We examine the crust cooling evolution of the low-mass X-ray binary MXB 1659-29 up to ~505 days after the end of its 2015 outburst (hereafter outburst II) and compare it with what we observed after its previous 1999 outburst (hereafter outburst I) using data obtained from the Swift, XMM-Newton, and Chandra observatories. The observed effective surface temperature of the neutron star in MXB 1659-29 dropped from ~92 eV to ~56 eV from ~12 days to…
Correct interpretation of X-ray observations of transiently accreting neutron stars requires modeling of nuclear-physical processes in these objects. We consider a chain of nuclear reactions that drives the crust composition in an accreting neutron star and heats up the star. We constructed multicomponent approach with the kinetics of nuclear reactions described in simplified stepwise manner. The redistribution of nucleons between nuclei by emission and capture of neutrons is shown to significantly affect the nuclear reaction chains and the composition of the inner crust. In particular, even i…
We study long-term thermal evolution of neutron stars in soft X-ray transients (SXTs), taking the deep crustal heating into account consistently with the changes of the composition of the crust. We collect observational estimates of average accretion rates and thermal luminosities of such neutron stars and compare the theory with observations. We perform simulations of thermal evolution of accreting neutron stars, considering the gradual replacement of the original nonaccreted crust by the reprocessed accreted matter, the neutrino and photon energy losses, and the deep crustal heating due to n…
The structure and composition of the crust of neutron stars plays an important role in their thermal and magnetic evolution, hence in setting their observational properties. One way to study the crust properties is to measure how it cools after it has been heated during an accretion outburst in a low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB). Such studies have shown that there is a tantalizing source of heat, of currently unknown origin, that is located in the outer layers of the crust and has a strength that varies between different sources and different outbursts. With the aim of understanding the mechanism …
We study the effect of physics input on thermal evolution of neutron stars in soft X-ray transients (SXTs). In particular, we consider different modern models of the sources of deep crustal heating during accretion episodes and the effects brought about by impurities embedded in the crust during its formation. We simulate thermal structure and evolution of episodically accreting neutron stars under different assumptions on the crust composition and on the distribution of heat sources and impurities. For the nonaccreted crust, we consider the nuclear charge fluctuations that arise at crust form…
The transient neutron star low-mass X-ray binary and 11 Hz X-ray pulsar IGR J17480-2446 in the globular cluster Terzan 5 exhibited an 11-week accretion outburst in 2010. Chandra observations performed within five months after the end of the outburst revealed evidence that the crust of the neutron star became substantially heated during the accretion episode and was subsequently cooling in quiescence. This provides the rare opportunity to probe the structure and composition of the crust. Here, we report on new Chandra observations of Terzan 5 that extend the monitoring to ~2.2 yr into quiescenc…
The deep crustal heating, associated with exothermal nuclear reactions, is believed to be a key parameter for describing the thermal evolution of accreting neutron stars. In this paper, we present the first thermodynamically consistent calculations of the crustal heating for realistic compositions of thermonuclear ashes. In contrast to previous studies based on the traditional approach, we account for neutron hydrostatic/diffusion (nHD) equilibrium condition imposed by superfluidity of neutrons in a major part of the inner crust and rapid diffusion in the remaining part of the inner crust. We …
We present a new mechanism for deep crustal heating in accreting neutron stars. Charged pions ($π^+$) are produced in nuclear collisions on the neutron star surface during active accretion and upon decay they provide a flux of neutrinos into the neutron star crust. For massive and/or compact neutron stars, neutrinos deposit $\approx 1\textrm{--} 2 \, \mathrm{MeV}$ of heat per accreted nucleon into the inner crust. The strength of neutrino heating is comparable to the previously known sources of deep crustal heating, such as from pycnonuclear fusion reactions, and is relevant for studies of coo…
We discuss the effect of compression on Urca shells in the ocean and crust of accreting neutron stars, especially in superbursting sources. We find that Urca shells may be deviated from chemical equilibrium in neutron stars which accrete at several tenths of the local Eddington accretion rate. The deviation depends on the energy threshold of the parent and daughter nuclei, the transition strength, the temperature, and the local accretion rate. In a typical crust model of accreting neutron stars, the chemical departures range from a few tenths of kBT to tens of kBT for various Urca pairs. If th…
The neutron-drip transition in the dense matter constituting the interior of neutron stars generally refers to the appearance of unbound neutrons as the matter density reaches some threshold density $ρ_\textrm{drip}$. This transition has been mainly studied under the cold catalyzed matter hypothesis. However, this assumption is unrealistic for accreting neutron stars. After examining the physical processes that are thought to be allowed in both accreting and nonaccreting neutron stars, suitable conditions for the onset of neutron drip are derived and general analytical expressions for the neut…
The outer crust properties of cold non-accreting neutron stars are studied within the framework of the quark-meson coupling (QMC) model, which includes the effects of modifications of the quark structure inside individual nucleons when they are within a high-density nuclear medium. With a unique set of five well-constrained adjustable parameters, which have a clear physical basis, the QMC model gives predictions for the ground state observables of even-even nuclei which agree with experiment as well as traditional models. Furthermore, it gives improved theoretical values for nuclei thought to …
X-ray observations of transiently accreting neutron stars during quiescence provide information about the structure of neutron star crusts and the properties of dense matter. Interpretation of the observational data requires an understanding of the nuclear reactions that heat and cool the crust during accretion, and define its nonequilibrium composition. We identify here in detail the typical nuclear reaction sequences down to a depth in the inner crust where the mass density is 2E12 g/cm^3 using a full nuclear reaction network for a range of initial compositions. The reaction sequences differ…
With our neutron star crust cooling code {\tt NSCool} we track the thermal evolution of the neutron star in Aql X-1 over the full accretion outburst history from 1996 until 2015. For the first time, we model many outbursts (23 outbursts were detected) collectively and in great detail. This allows us to investigate the influence of previous outbursts on the internal temperature evolution and to test different neutron star crust cooling scenarios. Aql X-1 is an ideal test source for this purpose, because it shows frequent, short outbursts and thermally dominated quiescence spectra. The source go…
Transient neutron star (NS) LMXBs undergo episodes of accretion, alternated with quiescent periods. During an accretion outburst, the NS heats up due to exothermic accretion-induced processes taking place in the crust. Besides the long-known deep crustal heating of nuclear origin, a likely non-nuclear source of heat, dubbed 'shallow heating', is present at lower densities. Most of the accretion-induced heat slowly diffuses into the core on a timescale of years. Over many outburst cycles, a state of equilibrium is reached when the core temperature is high enough that the heating and cooling (ph…
Nuclear reactions heat and cool the crust of accreting neutron stars and need to be understood to interpret observations of X-ray bursts and of long-term cooling in transiently accreting systems. It was recently suggested that previously neglected neutron transfer reactions may play a significant role in the nuclear processes. We present results from full nuclear network calculations that now include these reactions and determine their impact on crust composition, crust impurity, heating, and cooling. We find that a large number of neutron transfer reactions indeed occur and impact crust model…
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…
Observations of soft X-ray transients in quiescence suggest the existence of heat sources in the crust of accreting neutron stars. Heat is thought to be released by electroweak and nuclear processes triggered by the burying of ashes of X-ray bursts. The heating is studied using a fully quantum approach taking consistently into account nuclear shell effects. We have followed the evolution of ashes made of $^{56}$Fe employing the nuclear energy-density functional theory. Both the outer and inner crusts are described using the same functional, thus ensuring a unified and thermodynamically consist…
Superbursts are rare and energetic thermonuclear carbon flashes observed to occur on accreting neutron stars. We create the first multi-zone models of series of superbursts using a stellar evolution code. We self-consistently build up the fuel layer at different rates, spanning the entire range of observed mass accretion rates for superbursters. For all models light curves are presented. They generally exhibit a shock breakout, a precursor burst due to shock heating, and a two-component power-law decay. Shock heating alone is sufficient for a bright precursor, that follows the shock breakout o…
The accretion of matter onto the surface of a neutron star in a low-mass X-ray binary triggers X-ray bursts, whose ashes are buried and further processed thus altering the composition and the properties of the stellar crust. In this second paper of a series, the impact of accretion on the equation of state and on the global properties of neutron stars is studied in the framework of the nuclear energy-density functional theory. Considering ashes made of $^{56}$Fe, we calculated the equations of state using the same Brussels-Montreal nuclear energy-density functionals BSk19, BSk20, and BSk21, as…
Magnetar magnetothermal evolution with Landau-quantized electrons: enhanced Joule heating due to free electron diamagnetism and the magnetar heating problem
Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, Columbia University（哥伦比亚大学天体物理实验室，哥伦比亚大学）
In accreting neutron star X-ray transients, the neutron star crust can be substantially heated out of thermal equilibrium with the core during an accretion outburst. The observed subsequent cooling in quiescence (when accretion has halted) offers a unique opportunity to study the structure and thermal properties of the crust. Initially crust cooling modelling studies focussed on transient X-ray binaries with prolonged accretion outbursts (> 1 year) such that the crust would be significantly heated for the cooling to be detectable. Here we present the results of applying a theoretical model to …
The spin-down of a neutron star, e.g. due to magneto-dipole losses, results in compression of the stellar matter and induces nuclear reactions at phase transitions between different nuclear species in the crust. We show that this mechanism is effective in heating recycled pulsars, in which the previous accretion process has already been compressing the crust, so it is not in nuclear equilibrium. We calculate the corresponding emissivity and confront it with available observations, showing that it might account for the likely thermal ultraviolet emission of PSR J0437-4715.
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…
The thermal emission detected from the millisecond pulsar J0437-4715 is not explained by standard cooling models of neutron stars without a heating mechanism. We investigated three heating mechanisms controlled by the rotational braking of the pulsar: breaking of the solid crust, superfluid vortex creep, and non-equilibrium reactions ('rotochemical heating'). We find that the crust cracking mechanism does not produce detectable heating. Given the dependence of the heating mechanisms on spin-down parameters, which leads to different temperatures for different pulsars, we study the thermal evolu…
Accreting neutron stars are one of the main targets for continuous gravitational wave searches, as asymmetric accretion may lead to quadrupolar deformations, or `mountains', on the crust of the star, which source gravitational wave emission at twice the rotation frequency. The gravitational wave torque may also impact on the spin evolution of the star, possibly dictating the currently observed spin periods of neutron stars in Low Mass X-ray Binaries and leading to the increased spindown rate observed during accretion in PSR J1023+0038. Previous studies have shown that deformed reaction layers …
Several candidates for accreting magnetars have been proposed recently by different authors. Existence of such systems contradicts the standard magnetic field decay scenario where a large magnetic field of a neutron star reaches $\lesssim$ few$\times 10^{13}$G at ages $\gtrsim 1$ Myr. Among other sources, the high mass X-ray binary 4U0114+65 seems to have a strong magnetic field around $10^{14}$ G. We develop a new Bayesian estimate for the kinematic age and demonstrate that 4U0114+65 has kinematic age 2.4-5 Myr ($95\%$ credential interval) since the formation of the neutron star. We discuss w…
On a re-examination of neutron star cooling in transient sources -- No shallow heating required?
Institut d’Astronomie et d’Astrophysique, Université Libre de Bruxelles（布鲁塞尔自由大学天体物理研究所）；Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna（拉古纳大学天体物理学系）；Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias（加那利天体物理研究所）；Center for Nuclear Astrophysics across Messengers (CeNAM)（跨信使核天体物理学中心）；Instituto de Astronomía, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México（墨西哥国立自治大学天文学研究所）
The monitoring of quiescent emission from neutron star transients with accretion outbursts long enough to significantly heat the neutron star crust has opened a new vista onto the physics of dense matter. In this paper we construct models of the thermal relaxation of the neutron star crust following the end of a protracted accretion outburst. We confirm the finding of Shternin et al., that the thermal conductivity of the neutron star crust is high, consistent with a low impurity parameter. We describe the basic physics that sets the broken power-law form of the cooling lightcurve. The initial …
Hyper-accretion discs around black holes emit copious neutrinos and anti-neutrinos. A fraction of the emitted neutrinos convert to electron-positron plasma above the disc through the annihilation reaction $ν\barν\to e^+e^-$. This process may drive relativistic jets associated with GRB explosions. We calculate the efficiency of energy deposition by neutrinos. Our calculation is fully relativistic and based on a geodesic-tracing method. We find that the efficiency of neutrino heating is a well-defined function of (i) accretion rate and (ii) spin of the black hole. It is practically independent o…
Transiently accreting neutron stars in low mass X-ray binaries are generally believed to be heated up by nuclear reactions in accreted matter during hydrostatic compression. Detailed modeling of these reactions is required for the correct interpretation of observations. In this paper, we construct a simplified reaction network, which can be easily implemented and depends mainly on atomic mass tables as nuclear physics input. We show that it reproduces results of the detailed network by Lau et al. (2018) very well, if one applies the same mass model. However, the composition and the heating pow…
We have monitored the transient neutron star low-mass X-ray binary 1RXS J180408.9-342058 in quiescence after its ~4.5 month outburst in 2015. The source has been observed using Swift and XMM-Newton. Its X-ray spectra were dominated by a thermal component. The thermal evolution showed a gradual X-ray luminosity decay from ~18 x 10^32 to ~4 x 10^32 (D/5.8 kpc)^2 erg s^{-1} between ~8 and ~379 d in quiescence, and the inferred neutron star surface temperature (for an observer at infinity; using a neutron star atmosphere model) decreased from ~100 to ~71 eV. This can be interpreted as cooling of a…
When neutron stars reside in transient X-ray binaries, their crustal layers become heated during accretion outbursts and subsequently cool in quiescence. Observing and modeling this thermal response has yielded valuable insight into the physics of neutron star crusts. However, one unresolved problem is the evidence in several neutron stars for an extra energy source, located at shallow depth in the crust, that is not accounted for by standard heating models. Its origin remains puzzling, and it is currently unclear whether this additional heating occurs in all neutron stars, and if the magnitud…
Context: The standard cooling models of neutron stars predict temperatures $T<10^{4}$ K for ages $t>10^{7}$ yr. However, the likely thermal emission detected from the millisecond pulsar J0437-4715, of spin-down age $t_s \sim 7\times10^9$ yr, implies a temperature $T\sim 10^5$ K. Thus, a heating mechanism needs to be added to the cooling models in order to obtain agreement between theory and observation. Aims: Several internal heating mechanisms could be operating in neutron stars, such as magnetic field decay, dark matter accretion, crust cracking, superfluid vortex creep, and non-equilibrium …
The flow of a matter, accreting onto a magnetized neutron star, is accompanied by an electric current. The closing of the electric current occurs in the crust of a neutron stars in the polar region across the magnetic field. But the conductivity of the crust along the magnetic field greatly exceeds the conductivity across the field, so the current penetrates deep into the crust down up to the super conducting core. The magnetic field, generated by the accretion current, increases greatly with the depth of penetration due to the Hall conductivity of the crust is also much larger than the transv…
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…
