Gravitational wave background from neutron star phase transition

We study the generation of a stochastic gravitational wave (GW) background produced by a population of neutron stars (NSs) which go over a hadron-quark phase transition in its inner shells. We obtain, for example, that the NS phase transition, in cold dark matter scenarios, could generate a stochastic GW background with a maximum amplitude of h _BG ~ 10⁻²⁴, in the frequency band ν _obs ≃ 20–2,000 Hz for stars forming at redshifts of up to z ≃ 20. We study the possibility of detection of this isotropic GW background by correlating signals of a pair of Advanced LIGO observatories.     

The neutron star zoo

Neutron stars are a very diverse population, both in their observational and their physical properties. They prefer to radiate most of their energy at X-ray and gamma-ray wavelengths. But whether their emission is powered by rotation, accretion, heat, magnetic fields or nuclear reactions, they are all different species of the same animal whose magnetic field evolution and interior composition remain a mystery. This article will broadly review the properties of inhabitants of the neutron star zoo, with emphasis on their high-energy emission.     

A realistic model of superfluidity in the neutron star inner crust

A semi-microscopic self-consistent quantum approach developed recently to describe the inner-crust structure of neutron stars within the Wigner-Seitz (WS) method with the explicit inclusion of neutron and proton pairing correlations is further developed. In this approach, the generalized energy functional is used which contains the anomalous term describing the pairing. It is constructed by matching the realistic phenomenological functional by Fayans et al. for describing the nuclear-type cluster in the center of the WS cell with the one calculated microscopically for neutron matter. Previously, the anomalous part of the latter was calculated within the BCS approximation. In this work corrections to the BCS theory which are known from the many-body theory of pairing in neutron matter are included into the energy functional in an approximate way. These modifications have a sizable influence on the equilibrium configuration of the inner crust, i.e. on the proton charge Z and the radius R _c of the WS cell. The effects are quite significant in the region where the neutron pairing gap is larger.     

Radial oscillations of neutron stars in strong magnetic fields

The eigen frequencies of radial pulsations of neutron stars are calculated in a strong magnetic field. At low densities we use the magnetic BPS equation of state (EOS) similar to that obtained by Lai and Shapiro while at high densities the EOS obtained from the relativistic nuclear mean field theory is taken and extended to include strong magnetic field. It is found that magnetized neutron stars support higher maximum mass whereas the effect of magnetic field on radial stability for observed neutron star masses is minimal.     

Topological aspects in a two-component Bose condensed system in neutron star

By making use of Duan--Ge's decomposition theory of gauge potential and the topological current theory proposed by Prof. Duan Yi-Shi, we study a two-component superfluid Bose condensed system, which is supposed to be realized in the interior of neutron stars in the form of the coexistence of a neutron superfluid and a protonic superconductor. We propose that this system possesses vortex lines. The topological charges of the vortex lines are characterized by the Hopf indices and the Brower degrees of φ-mapping.     

Effects of Fock term,tensor coupling and baryon structure variation on a neutron star

The equation of state for neutron matter is calculated within relativistic Hartree–Fock approximation. The tensor couplings of vector mesons to baryons are included, and the change of baryon internal structure in matter is also considered using the quark–meson coupling model. We obtain the maximum neutron-star mass of ∼2.0M_⊙$\sim 2.0M_{\odot }$, which is consistent with the recently observed, precise mass, 1.97±0.04M_⊙$1.97\pm 0.04M_{\odot }$. The Fock contribution is very important and, in particular, the inclusion of tensor coupling is vital to obtain such large mass. The baryon structure variation in matter also enhances the mass of a neutron star.     

Neutron Star Properties in a QCD-Motivated Model

We investigate the composition and structure of neutron-, hybrid-, and quark stars within an effective QCD-motivated model of strong interaction. The hadronic phase is described within a novel chiral SU(3) model and the deconfined quark-gluon plasma phase is formulated within the bag model. The phase transition between these phases is treated as a first order transition having two conserved charges.     

Resonant nuclear reaction ~(23)Mg(p,γ) ~(24)Al in strongly screening magnetized neutron star crust

Based on the relativistic theory of superstrong magnetic fields(SMF), by using three models those of Lai(LD), Fushiki(FGP), and our own(LJ), we investigate the influence of SMFs due to strong electron screening(SES) on the nuclear reaction ~(23)Mg(p,γ) ~(24)Al in magnetars. In a relatively low density environment(e.g., ρ_7 0.01)and 1 B_(12) 10~2, our screening rates are in good agreement with those of LD and FGP. However, in relatively high magnetic fields(e.g., B_(12) 10~2), our reaction rates can be 1.58 times and about three orders of magnitude larger than those of FGP and LD, respectively(B_(12), ρ~7 are in units of 10~(12)G, 10~7 g cm~(-3)). The significant increase of strong screening rate can imply that more ~(23)Mg will escape from the Ne-Na cycle due to SES in a SMF. As a consequence,the next reaction, ~(24)Al(+β, ν) ~(24)Mg, will produce more ~(24)Mg to participate in the Mg-Al cycle. Thus, it may lead to synthesis of a large amount of A20 nuclides in magnetars.     

Quark deconfinement in neutron star cores

Whether or not the deconfined quark phase exists in neutron star cores is an open question. We use two realistic effective quark models, the three-flavor Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model and the modified quark-meson coupling model, to describe the neutron star matter. We show that the modified quark-meson coupling model, which is fixed by reproducing the saturation properties of nuclear matter, can be consistent with the experimental constraints from nuclear collisions. After constructing possible hybrid equations of state (EOSes) with an unpaired or color superconducting quark phase with the assumption of the sharp hadron-quark phase transition, we discuss the observational constraints from neutron stars on the EOSes. It is found that the neutron star with pure quark matter core is unstable and the hadronic phase with hyperons is denied, while hybrid EOSes with a two-flavor color superconducting phase or unpaired quark matter phase are both allowed by the tight and most reliable constraints from two stars Ter 5 I and EXO 0748-676. And the hybrid EOS with an unpaired quark matter phase is allowed even compared with the tightest constraint from the most massive pulsar star PSR J0751+1807.     

Nuclear matter and neutron star properties with the extendedNambu-Jona-Lasinio model

An extended Nambu-Jona-Lasinio(eNJL) model with nucleons as the degrees of freedom is used to investigate properties of nuclear matter and neutron stars(NSs),including the binding energy and symmetry energy of the nuclear matter, the core-crust transition density, and mass-radius relation of NSs. The fourth-order symmetry energy at saturation density is also investigated. When the bulk properties of nuclear matter at saturation density are used to determine the model parameters, the double solutions of parameters are obtained for a given nuclear incompressibility. It is shown that the isovector-vector interaction has a significant influence on the nuclear matter and NS properties, and the sign of isovector-vector coupling constant is critical in the determination of the trend of the symmetry energy and equation of state. The effects of the other model parameters and symmetry energy slope at saturation density are discussed.     

Observations of neutron stars and the equation of state of matter at high densities

We summarize the constraints on the equation of state of high-density nuclear matter derived from neutron star observations. The most stringent constraints are provided by the largest mass, the largest radius, the highest rotational frequency, and the maximum surface gravity observed for neutron stars. The combination of these constraints allows only nuclear equations of state which are quite stiff.     

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.     

Information theoretical methods as discerning quantifiers of the equations of state of neutron stars

In this work we use the statistical measures of information entropy, disequilibrium and complexity to discriminate different approaches and parametrizations for different equations of state for quark stars. We confirm the usefulness of such quantities to quantify the role of interactions in such stars. We find that within this approach, a quark matter equation of state such as SU(2) NJL with vectorial coupling and phase transition is slightly favoured and deserves deeper studies.     

Towards a quantal dynamical simulation of the neutron star’s crust

We present a novel method to study the dynamics of bulk fermion systems such as the neutron star’s crust. By introducing periodic boundary conditions into Fermionic Molecular Dynamics, it becomes possible to examine the long-range many-body correlations induced by antisymmetrisation in bulk fermion systems. The presented technique treats the spins and the fermionic nature of the nucleons explicitly and permits investigating the dynamics of the system. Despite the increased complexity related to the periodic boundary conditions, the proposed formalism remains computationally feasible.     

Rare isotopes in thermonuclear explosions on neutron stars

This paper provides an introduction to the role that the physics of rare isotopes plays in the interpretation of observations of accreting neutron stars.     

Pion mass effects on axion emission from neutron stars through NN bremsstrahlung processes

The rates of axion emission by nucleon–nucleon bremsstrahlung are calculated with the inclusion of the full momentum contribution from a nuclear one pion exchange (OPE) potential. The contributions of the neutron–neutron (nn), proton–proton ( pp) and neutron–proton (np) processes in both the non-degenerate and degenerate limits are explicitly given. We find that the finite-momentum corrections to the emissivities are quantitatively significant for the non-degenerate regime and temperature-dependent, and should affect the existing axion mass bounds. The trend of these nuclear effects is to diminish the emissivities.     

Hadron masses in medium and neutron star properties

We investigate the properties of the neutron star with relativistic mean-field models. We incorporate in the quantum hadrodynamics and in the quark-meson coupling models a possible reduction of meson masses in nuclear matter. The equation of state for neutron star matter is obtained and is employed in Oppenheimer-Volkov equation to extract the maximum mass of the stable neutron star. We find that the equation of state, the composition and the properties of the neutron stars are sensitive to the values of the meson masses in medium.     

A remark about possible unity of the neutron star and black hole high frequency QPOs

In a series of papers it was discussed,on the basis of phenomenological arguments, whether the high frequency quasiperiodic oscillations (kHz QPOs)observed in the neutron-star and black-hole X-ray sources originate in the same physical mechanism. Recently it was suggested that a general trend seen in neutron star kHz QPOs instead excludes such a uniform origin. Using the example of the atoll source 4U 1636-53 we illustrate that this is not neccesarily true.      

Hypernuclear physics for neutron stars

The role of hypernuclear physics for the physics of neutron stars is delineated. Hypernuclear potentials in dense matter control the hyperon composition of dense neutron star matter. The three-body interactions of nucleons and hyperons determine the stiffness of the neutron star equation of state and thereby the maximum neutron star mass. Two-body hyperon–nucleon and hyperon–hyperon interactions give rise to hyperon pairing which exponentially suppresses cooling of neutron stars via the direct hyperon URCA processes. Nonmesonic weak reactions with hyperons in dense neutron star matter govern the gravitational wave emissions due to the r-mode instability of rotating neutron stars.