Related papers: Pulsars and quark stars
Anomalous X-ray pulsars, compact non-pulsing X-ray sources in supernova remnants, and X-ray bursters are three distinct types of sources for which there are viable models that attribute their X-ray emission to thermal emission from the…
The description of the heaviest neutron stars observed in Nature depends on the understanding of the physical concepts present in General Relativity and Quantum Chromodynamics. In this work, we review the basic concepts need to describe…
The observed velocities of radio pulsars, which range in the hundreds kilometers per second, and many of which exceed 1000 km/s, are not explained by the standard physics of the supernova explosion. However, if a sterile neutrino with mass…
This is a review of X-ray emission from all types of isolated neutron stars, with an emphasis on rotation-powered pulsars. Topics include magnetospheric and thermal emission, as well as pulsar wind nebulae.
In this lecture, we give a first introduction to neutron stars, based on fundamental physical principles. After outlining their outstanding macroscopic properties, as obtained from observations, we infer the extreme conditions of matter in…
Neutron stars are highly compact astrophysical objects and therefore of utmost relevance to learn about theories of gravity. Whereas the proper equation of state of the nuclear matter inside neutron stars is not yet known, and a wide range…
The evidence for associations between neutron stars and supernova remnants is reviewed. After summarizing the situation for young radio pulsars, I consider the evidence from associations that young neutron stars can have properties very…
As many as $10^9$ neutron stars populate the Galaxy, but only $\approx 10^3$ are directly observed as pulsars or as accreting sources in X-ray binaries. In principle also the accretion of the interstellar medium may make isolated neutron…
The paradigm that young neutron stars (NSs) evolve as rapidly rotating Crab-like pulsars requires re-examination. Evidence is accumulating that, in fact, many young NS are slowly rotating (P ~ 10-s) X-ray pulsars, lacking in detectable…
A neutron star with mass close to the lower limit might be a reasonable model for some anomalous pulsars. Emission is thermal. X-ray luminosity is high. Spatial velocity can be high. Since the radius is predicted to be large, the magnetic…
Discovered over fifty years ago, neutron stars exhibit a remarkable variety of behaviors depending on their age, magnetic field strength, rotational dynamics, emission mechanisms, and surrounding environments. This diversity in their…
Strange stars ought to exist in the universe according to the strange quark matter hypothesis, which states that matter made of roughly equal numbers of up, down, and strange quarks could be the true ground state of baryonic matter rather…
In this work we shortly review several aspects of the physics of neutron stars. After the introduction we present a brief historical overview of the idea of neutron stars as well as of the theoretical and observational developments that…
Several relatively bright, persistent X-ray sources display regular pulses, with periods in the range of 700-10000 s. These sources are identified with massive close binaries in which a neutron star accretes material onto its surface. The…
The possibility and the implications of the idea, that pulsars are born as strange stars, are explored. Strange stars are very likely to have atmospheres with typical mass of $\sim 5\times 10^{-15}M_\odot$ but bare polar caps almost…
Binary neutron stars mergers that are expected to be the most powerful source of energy in the Universe definitely exist in nature, as is proven by the observed behavior of the Hulse-Taylor binary radio pulsar. Though most of energy in such…
The conventionally separated treatments for strangelets and strange stars are now unified with a more comprehensive theoretical description for objects ranging from strangelets to strange stars. After constraining the model parameter…
Astronomers occasionally detect an object having unexpected shape, unexplainable photometry, or unprecedented spectra that are inconsistent with our contemporary knowledge of the universe. Upon careful assessment, many of these anomalies…
Microquasars are compact objects (stellar-mass black holes and neutron stars) that mimic, on a smaller scale, many of the phenomena seen in quasars. Their discovery provided new insights into the physics of relativistic jets observed…
The nature of the 5-12 s "anomalous" X-ray pulsars remains a mystery. Among the models that have been proposed to explain the properties of AXPs, the most likely ones are: (1) isolated accreting neutron stars evolved from the…