Related papers: Revisiting the thermal relaxation of neutron stars
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…
Passively cooling neutron stars (NSs) should reach undetectably low surface temperatures $T_s<10^4$ K in less than $10^7$ yr. However, HST observations have revealed likely thermal UV emission from the Gyr-old millisecond pulsars…
Charged current neutrino-nucleon reactions, generally called Urca processes, are crucial actors of a neutron star's thermal evolution. The so-called direct processes show a pronounced threshold under which the reaction is kinematically…
We study the thermal structure of neutron stars with magnetized envelopes composed of accreted material, using updated thermal conductivities of plasmas in quantizing magnetic fields, as well as equation of state and radiative opacities for…
Neutron stars cooling passively since their birth may be reheated in their late-stage evolution by a number of possible phenomena: rotochemical, vortex creep, crust cracking, magnetic field decay, or more exotic processes such as removal of…
Young neutron stars cool via the emission of neutrinos from their core. A precise understanding of all the different processes producing neutrinos in the hot and degenerate matter is essential for assessing the cooling rate of such stars.…
In previous papers, we have shown that, as the rotation of a neutron star slows down, it will be internally heated as a consequence of the progressively changing mix of particles (rotochemical heating). In previously studied cases…
Neutron Stars are natural laboratories where fundamental properties of matter under extreme conditions can be explored. Modern nuclear physics input as well as many-body theories are valuable tools which may allow us to improve our…
We explore the thermal evolution of a neutron star undergoing episodes of intense accretion, separated by long periods of quiescence. By using an exact cooling code we follow in detail the flow of heat in the star due to the time-dependent…
Shortly after its birth in a gravitational collapse, a proto-neutron star enters in a phase of quasi-stationary evolution characterized by large gradients of the thermodynamical variables and intense neutrino emission. In few tens of…
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…
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…
A generic toy model of a cooling neutron star (NS) is used to analyze cooling of NSs with nucleon and exotic composition of the cores. The model contains the parameters which specify the levels of slow and enhanced neutrino emission as well…
Thermal evolution of neutron stars (NSs) is studied as a probe of physics beyond the standard model. We first review the standard cooling theory of NSs in detail, with an emphasis on the roles of nucleon superfluidity. Then we discuss…
The prediction of the equation of state of hot, dense nuclear matter is one of the most complicated and interesting problems in nuclear astrophysics. At the same time, knowledge of it is the basic ingredient for some of the most interesting…
We model neutrino emission from a newly born neutron star subsequent to a supernova explosion to study its sensitivity to the equation of state, neutrino opacities, and convective instabilities at high baryon density. We find the time…
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…
Using the momentum-dependent MDI effective interaction for nucleons, we have studied the transition density and pressure at the boundary between the inner crust and liquid core of hot neutron stars. We find that their values are larger in…
We investigate nuclear pasta phases appearing in hot neutron-star matter based on the compressible liquid-drop model, where the matter consists of a dense liquid phase and a dilute gas phase separated by a sharp interface. The surface…
It is generally considered that the neutron star cooling scenarios involving fast neutrino emission, from a kaon or pion condensate, quark matter, or the direct Urca process, require the presence of baryon pairing in the central core of the…