Related papers: Model of heat diffusion in the outer crust of burs…
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…
The study of transiently accreting neutron stars provides a powerful means to elucidate the properties of neutron star crusts. We present extensive numerical simulations of the evolution of the neutron star in the transient low-mass X-ray…
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…
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 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…
Magnetar outbursts are among the most noteworthy manifestations of magnetism in neutron stars. They are episodes in which the X-ray luminosity of a strongly magnetised neutron star swiftly rises by several orders of magnitude to then decay…
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…
We study thermal states of transiently accreting neutron stars (with mean accretion rates $\dot{M} \sim 10^{-14}-10^{-9}$ M$_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$) determined by the deep crustal heating of accreted matter sinking into stellar interiors. We…
The temperature of a newly formed neutron star is believed to be as high as $10^{11}$~K, corresponding to a thermal energy of about $10$ MeV. After a time $t \sim 50 \ {\rm s}$, the neutrino mean free path in nuclear matter exceeds the…
We present a new mechanism for deep crustal heating in accreting neutron stars. Charged pions ($\pi^+$) are produced in nuclear collisions on the neutron star surface during active accretion and upon decay they provide a flux of neutrinos…
In this work we revisit the thermal relaxation process for neutron stars. Such process is associated with the thermal coupling between the core and the crust of neutron stars. The thermal relaxation, which takes place at around 10 -- 100…
Neutron tunneling in neutron star crusts can release enormous amounts of energy on a short timescale. We have clarified aspects of this process occurring in the outer crust regions of neutron stars when oscillations or cataclysmic events…
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…
Neutron stars cooling after sustained accretion outbursts provide unique information about the neutron star crust and underlying dense matter. Comparisons between astronomical observations of these cooling transients and model calculations…
Observations of thermal radiation from neutron stars can potentially provide information about the states of supranuclear matter in the interiors of these stars with the aid of the theory of neutron-star thermal evolution. We review the…
Based on an extended nuclear statistical equilibrium model, we investigate the properties of non-accreted crusts of young and warm neo-neutron stars, i.e., of finite-temperature inhomogeneous dense matter in beta equilibrium. An interesting…
The persistent thermal luminosity of magnetars and their outbursts suggest the existence of some internal heat sources located in their outer crust. The compression of matter accompanying the decay of the magnetic field may trigger…
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}…
Superfluidity in the crust is a key ingredient for the cooling properties of proto-neutron stars. Present theoretical calculations employ the quasi-particle mean-field Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov theory with temperature dependent occupation…
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…