The Zoo of neutron stars

In these lecture notes, I briefly discuss the present day situation and new discoveries in astrophysics of neutron stars focusing on isolated objects. The latter include soft gamma repeaters, anomalous x-ray pulsars, central compact objects in supernova remnants, the Magnificent Seven, and rotating radio transients. In the last part of the paper, I describe available tests of cooling curves of neutron stars and discuss different additional constraints that can help to confront theoretical calculations of cooling with observational data. The text was submitted by the author in English.     

Abnormal neutron stars

Quasi-classical field theory is used to predict abnormal behaviour of neutron matter in a model with neutrons, scalar mesons and vector mesons. We predict two stable families of neutron stars, a conventional one and an unconventional one with surface density in excess of 10¹⁵g cm^?3, roughly.     

Possibility of a phase transition to a pion condensate in neutron stars

We consider the possibility that a pion condensate may arise in an infinite nuclear medium as a consequence of the modification of the pion propagator due to isobar-hole and nucleon-hole excitations, This does not seem likely in a system with N = Z at densities of less than 0.17 fm^?3, but does seem likely to occur at the densities encountered in the interior of neutron stars. We estimate a necessary neutron density of ? 0.38 fm^?3 and a condensate energy density of ? ? 0.25 MeV fm^?3.     

Magnetic monopoles in neutron stars

The effects of monopole-antimonopole annihilation on a previously reported bound [1] on the product of the galactic flux of grand unified magnetic monopoles and the cross section for monopole catalyzed nucleon decay: (F_M/cm^?2s^?1sr^?1)(σ_ΔB/10^?2 cm²) ? 10^?22 are examined for several models of neutron star interiors. For neutron stars with superconducting interiors or large internal magnetic fields this bound is unaltered. In the unlikely event that old neutron stars are not superconducting and have internal magnetic fields B_int ? 10⁸ Gauss the effects of monopole-antimonopole annihilation relax the bound to (F_M/cm^?2 s^?1 sr^?1)(σ_ΔB/10^?27 cm^?2)² ? 10^?18. Magnetic monopoles may also have a significant effect on the structure of the interior magnetic field in neutron stars.     

Conversion of dark matter axions to photons in magnetospheres of neutron stars

We propose a new method to detect observational appearance of dark matter axions. The method utilizes radio observations of neutron stars. It is based on the conversion of axions to photons in strong magnetic fields of neutron stars (the Primakoff effect). If the conversion occurs, the radio spectrum of the object has a very distinctive feature—a narrow spike at the frequency corresponding to the rest mass of the axion. For example, if the coupling constant of the photon-axion interaction is M = 10¹⁰ GeV, the density of dark matter axions is ρ = 10⁻²⁴ g cm⁻³ and the axion mass is 5 μeV; then the flux from a strongly magnetized (10¹⁴ G) neutron star at the distance 300 pc from the Sun is expected to be about few tenths of millijansky at a frequency of about 1200 MHz in a bandwidth of about 3 MHz. Close-by X-ray dim isolated neutron stars are proposed as good candidates to look for such radio emission. The article is published in the original.     

Slowly rotating neutron stars and hadronic stars in the chiral SU(3) quark mean-field model

The equations of state for neutron matter, strange and non-strange hadronic matter in the chiral SU(3) quark mean-field model are applied in the study of slowly rotating neutron stars and hadronic stars. The radius, mass, moment of inertia, and other physical quantities are carefully examined. The effect of the nucleon crust for the strange hadronic star is exhibited. Our results show that the rotation can increase the maximum mass of compact stars significantly. For a big enough mass of pulsars which cannot be explained as strange hadronic stars, theoretical approaches to increase the maximum mass are addressed.     

Evidence for heating of neutron stars by magnetic-field decay

We show the existence of a strong trend between neutron star (NS) surface temperature and the dipolar component of the magnetic field extending through three orders of field magnitude, a range that includes magnetars, radio-quiet isolated neutron stars, and many ordinary radio pulsars. We suggest that this trend can be explained by the decay of currents in the crust over a time scale of approximately 10(6) yr. We estimate the minimum temperature that a NS with a given magnetic field can reach in this interpretation.     

End point of the rp process on accreting neutron stars

We calculate the rapid proton ( rp) capture process of hydrogen burning on the surface of an accreting neutron star with an updated reaction network that extends up to Xe, far beyond previous work. In both steady-state nuclear burning appropriate for rapidly accreting neutron stars (such as the magnetic polar caps of accreting x-ray pulsars) and unstable burning of type I x-ray bursts, we find that the rp process ends in a closed SnSbTe cycle. This prevents the synthesis of elements heavier than Te and has important consequences for x-ray burst profiles, the composition of accreting neutron stars, and potentially galactic nucleosynthesis of light p nuclei.     

Bose-Einstein condensation of anti-kaons and neutron star twins

We investigate the role of Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of anti-kaons on the equation of state (EoS) and other properties of compact stars. In the framework of relativistic mean field model we determine the EoS for β-stable hyperon matter and compare it to the situation when anti-kaons condense in the system. We observe that anti-kaon condensates soften the EoS, thereby lowering the maximum mass of the stars. We also demonstrate that the presence of antikaon condensates in the high density core of compact stars may lead to a new mass sequence beyond white dwarf and neutron stars. The limiting mass of the new sequence stars is nearly equal to that of neutron star branch though they have distinctly different radii and compositions. They are called neutron star twins.     

Magnetic collapse of a neutron gas: Can magnetars indeed be formed?

A relativistic degenerate neutron gas in equilibrium with a background of electrons and protons in a magnetic field exerts its pressure anisotropically, having a smaller value perpendicular to than along the magnetic field. For critical fields the magnetic pressure may produce the vanishing of the equatorial pressure of the neutron gas. Taking this as a model for neutron stars, the outcome could be a transverse collapse of the star. This fixes a limit to the fields to be observable in stable neutron star pulsars as a function of their density. The final structure left over after the implosion might be a mixed phase of nucleons and a meson condensate, a strange star, or a highly distorted black hole or black ”cigar”, but not a magnetar, if viewed as a superstrongly magnetized neutron star. However, we do not exclude the possibility of superstrong magnetic fields arising in supernova explosions which lead directly to strange stars. In other words, if any magnetars exist, they cannot be neutron stars. Received: 25 November 2002 / Revised version: 25 February 2003 / Published online: 5 May 2003     

Influence of strong magnetic field on β decay in the crusts of neutron stars

βdecay in the strong magnetic field of the crusts of neutron stars is analysed by an improved method. The reactions ⁶⁷ Ni(β^-)⁶⁷ Cu and ⁶² Mn\beta ^-62 Fe are investigated as examples. The results show that a weak magnetic field has little effect on βdecay but a strong magnetic field (B>10¹²G) increases β decay rates obviously. The conclusion derived may be crucial to the research of late evolution of neutron stars and nucleosynthesis in r-process.     

Role of hyperons and pions in neutron stars and supernova

Neutron stars are studied in the framework of nuclear relativistic field theory. Hyperons and pions significantly soften the equation of state of neutron star matter at moderate and high density. We conjecture that they are responsible for the softening that is found to be crucial to the bounce scenario in supernova calculations. Hyperons reduce the limiting mass of neutron stars predicted by theory by one half solar mass or more, which is a large effect compared to the range in which theories of matter predict this limit to fall.     

Neutron star magnetism

It is shown that

1. an appreciable change of magnetic moment of a neutron star cannot occur via ohmic dissipation
2. pulsars provide evidence for large internal magnetic fields in main sequence stars. If pulsars are born from stars with masses exceeding 3 ?_⊙ the internal field must be of the order of 10³-10⁴ Gauss while if they derived from less massive urstars 10² Gauss are sufficient to give rise to a magnetic moment ofM～10³⁰ Gauss cm³.

     

3PF2 neutron superfluidity in neutron stars and three-body force effect

We investigate the ^3PF2 neutron superfluidity in H-stable neutron star matter and neutron stars by using the BCS theory and the Brueckner-Hartree-Fock approach. We adopt the Argonne V18 potential supplemented with a microscopic three-body force as the realistic nucleon-nucleon interaction. We have concentrated on studying the threebody force effect on the ^3PF2 neutron pairing gap. It is found that the three-body force effect is to enhance remarkably the ^3PF2 neutron superfluidity in neutron star matter and neutron stars.     

Pion condensation and the Meisner effect in superdense neutron stars

The pion condensation in superdense neutron stars is at the origin of a Meisner effect with a very small London penetration depth.     

Effect of superstrong magnetic field on electron screening at the crusts of neutron stars

The influences of electron screening (ES) and electron energy correction (EEC) are investigated by superstrong magnetic field (SMF). We also discuss in detail the discrepant factor between our results and those of Fushiki, Gudmundsson and Pethick (FGP) in SMF. The results show that SMF has only a slight effect on ES when B < 109 T on the surfaces of most neutron stars. Whereas for some magnetars, SMF influence ES greatly when B > 109 T . For instance, due to SMF the ES potential may be increased about 23.6% and the EEC may be increased about 4 orders of magnitude at ρ/μe = 1.0 × 106 mol/cm3 and T9 = 1. On the other hand, the discrepant factor shows that our results are in good agreement with FGP’s when B < 109 T . But the difference will be increased with increasing SMF.     

Alfvén waves in the electron-nuclear plasma in the peripheral crust of a neutron star as a residual effect of a supernova explosion

The conservation of magnetic flux in the evolution and collapse of massive stars suggests that Alfvén magnetoplasma oscillations can be excited in an isolated neutron star by residual (after the supernova explosion) disturbances of the magnetized electron-nuclear plasma localized in the peripheral crust of the star. The frequencies of the poloidal Alfvén oscillations are calculated in the uniform magnetic field approximation, and it is found that the periods of the oscillations fall into the time interval of the periodicity of radio pulsar radiation. This coincidence of the periods could mean that, at least for some pulsars observed in the radio range, the electromagnetic activity is due to converstion of the energy of magnetoplasma oscillations into electromagnetic radiation. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 64, No. 9, 593–598 (10 November 1996)     

Spontaneous magnetization of solid quark-cluster stars

Pulsar-like compact stars usually have strong magnetic fields, with strengths from ~10~8 to ~10~(12) G on the surface. How such strong magnetic fields can be generated and maintained is still an unsolved problem,which is, in principle, related to the interior structure of compact stars, i.e., the equation of state of cold matter at supra-nuclear density. In this paper we are trying to solve the problem in the regime of solid quark-cluster stars.Inside quark-cluster stars, the extremely low ratio of number density of electrons to that of baryons n_e /n_b and the screening effect from quark-clusters could reduce the long-range Coulomb interaction between electrons to short-range interaction. In this case, Stoner's model could apply, and we find that the condition for ferromagnetism is consistent with that for the validity of Stoner's model. Under the screened Coulomb repulsion, the electrons inside the stars could be spontaneously magnetized and become ferromagnetic, and hence would contribute non-zero net magnetic momentum to the whole star. We conclude that, for most cases in solid quark-cluster stars, the amount of net magnetic momentum, which is proportional to the amount of unbalanced spins ξ =(n_+- n_-)/ne and depends on the number density of electrons n_e =n_+ + n_-, could be significant with non-zero ξ. The net magnetic moments of electron system in solid quark-cluster stars could be large enough to induce the observed magnetic fields for pulsars with B ~ 10~(11) to ~ 10~(13) G.     

A new study of the transition to uniform nuclear matter in neutron stars and supernovae

A comprehensive microscopic study of the properties of bulk matter at densities just below nuclear saturation ρ _s = 2.5 ∼ 10¹⁴ g cm⁻³, zero and finite temperature, and high neutron fraction, is outlined, and preliminary results presented. Such matter is expected to exist in the inner crust of neutron stars and during the core collapse of massive stars with M ≳ 8M _⊙. The text was submitted by the author in English.