Related papers: The Great Wall: Urca Cooling Layers in the Accrete…
The temperature in the crust of an accreting neutron star, which comprises its outermost kilometer, is set by heating from nuclear reactions at large densities, neutrino cooling, and heat transport from the interior. The heated crust has…
Observation of cooling neutron stars can potentially provide information about the states of matter at supernuclear densities. We review physical properties important for cooling such as neutrino emission processes and superfluidity in the…
Neutron stars in Low Mass X-ray Binaries (LMXBs) can accrete matter onto their surface from the companion star. Transiently accreting neutron stars go through alternating phases of active accretion outbursts and quiescence. X-ray…
The cooling theory of isolated neutron stars is reviewed. The main cooling regulators are discussed, first of all, operation of direct Urca process (or similar processes in exotic phases of dense matter) and superfluidity in stellar…
An accretion outburst onto a neutron star deposits hydrogen-rich and/or helium-rich material into the neutron star's envelope. Thermonuclear burning of accreted material robustly produces Urca pairs\textrm{---}pairs of nuclei that undergo…
We briefly review recent theoretical studies of the effects of accreted envelopes, magnetic fields and crustal superfluidity on the cooling of neutron stars. These effects are especially important for slowly cooling low-mass neutron stars,…
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…
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…
We present a brief, observational review about the study of the cooling behaviour of accretion-heated neutron stars and the inferences about the neutron-star crust and core that have been obtained from these studies. Accretion of matter…
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…
The excited-state structure of atomic nuclei can modify nuclear processes in stellar environments. In this work, we study the influence of nuclear excitations on Urca cooling (repeated back-and-forth beta decay and electron capture in a…
Thermal states of neutron stars in soft X-ray transients (SXRTs) are thought to be determined by "deep crustal heating" in the accreted matter that drives the quiescent luminosity and cooling via emission of photons and neutrinos from the…
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 upper limit of the effective surface temperature of the neutron star (NS) PSR J0205+6449 in the supernova remnant 3C 58 obtained recently by Slane et al. (2002) is analyzed using a modern theory of NS cooling (Kaminker et al. 2002). The…
Thermal evolution of neutron stars is known to depend on the properties of superdense matter in neutron star cores. We suggest a statistical analysis of isolated cooling middle-aged neutron stars and old transiently accreting…
We model the thermal states of both isolated neutron stars and accreting neutron stars in X-ray transients in quiescence and confront them with observations. We use an equation of state and superfluid baryon gaps, which are consistently…
Neutron stars provide unique laboratories for probing physics of dense nuclear matter under extreme conditions. Their thermal and luminosity evolution reflects key internal properties such as the equation of state (EoS), nucleon…
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…
Cooling of neutron stars (NSs) with the cores composed of neutrons, protons, and electrons is analyzed. The main cooling regulators are discussed: opening of direct Urca process in a NS central kernel; superfluidity of nucleons in NS…
We study the heat capacity and neutrino emission reactions (direct and modified Urca processes, nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung, Cooper pairing of nucleons) in matter of supranuclear density of the neutron star cores with superfluid neutrons…