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Cyclotron harmonics in opacities of isolated neutron star atmospheres

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 نشر من قبل Alexander Potekhin
 تاريخ النشر 2010
  مجال البحث فيزياء
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Some of X-ray dim isolated neutron stars (XDINS) and central compact objects in supernova remnants (CCO) show absorption features in their thermal soft X-ray spectra. It has been hypothesized that these features could be due to the periodic peaks in free-free absorption opacities, caused by either Landau quantization of electron motion in magnetic fields B<10^{11} G or analogous quantization of ion motion in magnetic fields B>10^{13} G. Here, I review the physics behind cyclotron quantum harmonics in free-free photoabsorption, discuss different approximations for their calculation, and explain why the ion cyclotron harmonics (beyond the fundamental) cannot be observed.



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