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Register a new userMinimal models of cooling neutron stars with accreted envelopes
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Authors
A.D. Kaminker
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We study the minimal cooling scenario of superfluid neutron stars with nucleon cores, where the direct Urca process is forbidden and the enhanced cooling is produced by the neutrino emission due to Cooper pairing of neutrons. Extending our previous consideration (Gusakov et al. 2004a), we include the effects of accreted envelopes of light elements. We employ phenomenological density-dependent critical temperatures T_{cp}(rho) and T_{cnt}(rho) of singlet-state proton and triplet-state neutron pairing in a stellar core, as well as the critical temperature T_{cns}(rho) of singlet-state neutron pairing in a stellar crust. We show that the presence of accreted envelopes simplifies the interpretation of observations of thermal radiation from isolated neutron stars in the scenario of Gusakov et al. (2004a) and widens the class of models for nucleon superfluidity in neutron star interiors consistent with the observations.
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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 partially ionized hydrogen in strong magnetic fields. The relation between the internal and local surface temperatures is calculated and fitted by an analytic function of the internal temperature, magnetic field strength, angle between the field lines and the normal to the surface, surface gravity, and the mass of the accreted material. The luminosity of a neutron star with a dipole magnetic field is calculated for various values of the accreted mass, internal temperature, and magnetic field strength. Using these results, we simulate cooling of superfluid neutron stars with magnetized accreted envelopes. We consider slow and fast cooling regimes, paying special attention to very slow cooling of low-mass superfluid neutron stars. In the latter case, the cooling is strongly affected by the combined effect of magnetized accreted envelopes and neutron superfluidity in the stellar crust. Our results are important for interpretation of observations of isolated neutron stars hottest for their age, such as RX J0822-43 and PSR B1055-52.
We study the thermal structure and evolution of magnetars as cooling neutron stars with a phenomenological heat source in an internal layer. We focus on the effect of magnetized (B > 10^{14} G) non-accreted and accreted outermost envelopes composed of different elements, from iron to hydrogen or helium. We discuss a combined effect of thermal conduction and neutrino emission in the outer neutron star crust and calculate the cooling of magnetars with a dipole magnetic field for various locations of the heat layer, heat rates and magnetic field strengths. Combined effects of strong magnetic fields and light-element composition simplify the interpretation of magnetars in our model: these effects allow one to interpret observations assuming less extreme (therefore, more realistic) heating. Massive magnetars, with fast neutrino cooling in their cores, can have higher thermal surface luminosity.
The minimal cooling paradigm for neutron star cooling assumes that enhanced cooling due to neutrino emission from any direct Urca process, due either to nucleons or to exotica such as hyperons, Bose condensates, or deconfined quarks, does not occur. This scenario was developed to replace and extend the so-called standard cooling scenario to include neutrino emission from the Cooper pair breaking and formation processes that occur near the critical temperature for superfluid/superconductor pairing. Recently, it has been found that Cooper-pair neutrino emission from the vector channel is suppressed by a large factor compared to the original estimates that violated vector current conservation. We show that Cooper-pair neutrino emission remains, nevertheless, an efficient cooling mechanism through the axial channel. As a result, the elimination of neutrino emission from Cooper-paired nucleons through the vector channel has only minor effects on the long-term cooling of neutron stars within the minimal cooling paradigm. We further quantify precisely the effect of the size of the neutron 3P2 gap and demonstrate that consistency between observations and the minimal cooling paradigm requires that the critical temperature T_c for this gap covers a range of values between T_c^min < 0.2 x 10^9 K up to T_c^max > 0.5 times 10^9 K in the core of the star. In addition, it is required that young neutron stars have heterogenous envelope compositions: some must have light-element compositions and others must have heavy-element compositions. Unless these two conditions are fulfilled, about half of the observed young cooling neutron stars are inconsistent with the minimal cooling paradigm and provide evidence for the existence of enhanced cooling.
We analyze cooling of neutron stars, assuming the presence of localized protons in the densest region of their cores. Choosing a single threshold density for proton localization and adjusting neutron star mass, we reproduce the observational data on effective surface temperatures of Vela and PSR 0656+14, with or without an accreted hydrogen envelope. However, the presence of a tiny hydrogen envelope is mandatory, in this model, for reproducing the Geminga data.
Context: Many thermally emitting isolated neutron stars have magnetic fields larger than 10^13 G. A realistic cooling model that includes the presence of high magnetic fields should be reconsidered. Aims: We investigate the effects of anisotropic temperature distribution and Joule heating on the cooling of magnetized neutron stars. Methods: The 2D heat transfer equation with anisotropic thermal conductivity tensor and including all relevant neutrino emission processes is solved for realistic models of the neutron star interior and crust. Results: The presence of the magnetic field affects significantly the thermal surface distribution and the cooling history during both, the early neutrino cooling era and the late photon cooling era. Conclusions: There is a large effect of the Joule heating on the thermal evolution of strongly magnetized neutron stars. Both magnetic fields and Joule heating play a key role in keeping magnetars warm for a long time. Moreover, this effect is important for intermediate field neutron stars and should be considered in radio-quiet isolated neutron stars or high magnetic field radio-pulsars.
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