Related papers: Models of crustal heating in accreting neutron sta…
Nuclear reactions in accreting neutron-star crusts and the heat release accompanying them are studied, under different assumptions concerning the composition of the outermost layer formed of the ashes of X-ray bursts. Particular examples of…
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…
A neutron star in a long-lived, low-mass binary can easily accrete enough matter to replace its entire crust. Previous authors noted that an accreted crust, being formed from the burning of accreted hydrogen and helium, allows a series of…
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…
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…
The observation of X-rays during quiescence from transiently accreting neutron stars provides unique clues about the nature of dense matter. This, however, requires extensive modeling of the crusts and matching the results to observations.…
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…
Observations of accreting neutron stars are widely used to constrain the microphysical properties of superdense matter. A key ingredient in this analysis is the heating associated with nuclear reactions in the outer layers of the neutron…
We outline the phenomenon of deep crustal heating in transiently accreting neutron stars. It is produced by nuclear transformations (mostly, by pycnonuclear reactions) in accreted matter while this matter sinks to densities rho > 10^{10}…
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…
We describe a new method to incorporate thermonuclear heating in the envelope of accreting neutron star into long term simulations of their thermal evolution. We obtain boundary conditions for the heat exchange between the envelope and the…
We model the nuclear evolution of an accreted matter as it sinks toward the stellar center, in order to find its composition and equation of state. To this aim, we developed a simplified reaction network that allows for redistribution of…
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…
Neutron stars in low-mass binary systems are subject to accretion. The common assumption in studying the properties of the neutron star crust is the fully accreted crust approximation. However, observations of some X-ray transient sources…
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…
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…
The accumulation of accreted matter onto the neutron star surface triggers exothermic reactions in the crust. The heat released as a result influences the luminosity exhibited by the X-ray transient. The most common approach to the kinetics…
We perform a self-consistent calculation of the thermal structure in the crust of a superbursting neutron star. In particular, we follow the nucleosynthetic evolution of an accreted fluid element from its deposition into the atmosphere down…
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…
Context. In the cooling process of a non-accreting neutron star, the composition and properties of the crust are thought to be fixed at the finite temperature where nuclear reactions fall out of equilibrium. A lower estimation for this…