Related papers: Pycnonuclear burning and accreting neutron stars
Hydrogen and/or helium accreted by a neutron star from a binary companion may undergo thermonuclear fusion. At different mass accretion rates different burning regimes are discerned. Theoretical models predict helium fusion to proceed as a…
Nuclear isomers are populated in the rapid neutron capture process (r process) of nucleosynthesis. The r process may cover a wide range of temperatures, potentially starting from several tens of GK (several MeV) and then cooling as material…
Cooling simulations of neutron stars (NSs) are performed assuming that stellar cores consist of neutrons, protons and electrons and using realistic density profiles of superfluid critical temperatures $T_{cn}(\rho)$ and $T_{cp}(\rho)$ of…
We are investigating mass fractions on the crust of a neutron star which would remain after one year of cooling. We use cooling curves corresponding with various densities, or depths, of the neutron star just after its formation. We assume…
During accretion, a neutron star (NS) is spun up as angular momentum is transported through its liquid surface layers. We study the resulting differentially rotating profile, focusing on the impact this has for type I X-ray bursts. The…
We derive analytic approximations of neutrino luminosities and heat capacities of neutron stars with nucleon cores valid for a wide class of equations of state of dense nucleon matter. The neutrino luminosities are approximated for the…
We calculate the temperature profiles of (thin) accretion disks around rapidly rotating neutron stars (with low surface magnetic fields), taking into account the full effects of general relativity. We then consider a model for the spectrum…
We present recent work on using astronomical observations of neutron stars to reveal unique insights into nuclear matter that cannot be obtained from laboratories on Earth. First, we discuss our measurement of the rapid cooling of the…
A set of microscopic, covariant density-functional, and non-relativistic Skyrme-type equations of state is employed to study the structure of purely nucleonic neutron stars at finite temperature. After examining the agreement with presently…
We report on the quiescent spectrum measured with Chandra/ACIS-S of the transient, type-I X-ray bursting neutron star Aql X-1, immediately following an accretion outburst. The neutron star radius, assuming a pure hydrogen atmosphere and…
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…
We examine various ways in which disk accretion can heat an accreting star. These include 1) radiation emitted from the disk surface which is intercepted by the stellar surface, 2) radiative flux directly across the disk-star interface, and…
We measured the thermonuclear burning efficiency as a function of accretion rate for the Type I X-ray bursts of five low-mass X-ray binary systems. We chose sources with measured neutron star spins and a substantial population of bursts…
The equilibrium composition of neutron star matter is achieved through weak interactions (direct and inverse beta decays), which proceed on relatively long time scales. If the density of a matter element is perturbed, it will relax to the…
The thermal relaxation time of neutron stars, typically defined by a sudden drop in surface temperature, is usually on the order of 10 to 100 years. In this study, we investigate neutron star thermal relaxation by incorporating nucleon…
We present a compilation of observed recurrence times ($t_{\rm rec}$) and infer the corresponding local mass-accretion rates ($\dot m$) for type I X-ray bursts, milliHertz quasi-periodic oscillating sources and recurrent novae eruptions. We…
Globally neutral neutron stars, obtained from the solution of the called Einstein-Maxwell-Thomas-Fermi equations that account for all the fundamental interactions, have been recently introduced. These configurations have a more general…
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…
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…
It has been recognized long ago that the presence of hot plasma in the inner accretion disks around black holes could lead to the neutron production via dissociation of helium nuclei. We show that, for a broad range of accretion parameters,…