Thermal states of neutron stars with a consistent model of interior

Abstract We model the thermal states of both isolated neutron stars and accreting neutron stars in X-ray transients in quiescence and confront them with observations. We use an equation of state calculated using realistic two-body and three-body nucleon interactions, and superfluid nucleon gaps obta...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 2018-04, Vol.475 (4), p.5010-5022
Main Authors: Fortin, M, Taranto, G, Burgio, G F, Haensel, P, Schulze, H-J, Zdunik, J L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Deposition
Equations of state
Fluids
Luminosity
Neutron stars
Neutrons
Quarks
Scaling factors
Stars
Superfluidity
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Summary:Abstract We model the thermal states of both isolated neutron stars and accreting neutron stars in X-ray transients in quiescence and confront them with observations. We use an equation of state calculated using realistic two-body and three-body nucleon interactions, and superfluid nucleon gaps obtained using the same microscopic approach in the BCS approximation. Consistency with low-luminosity accreting neutron stars is obtained, as the direct Urca process is operating in neutron stars with mass larger than 1.1 M⊙ for the employed equation of state. In addition, proton superfluidity and sufficiently weak neutron superfluidity, obtained using a scaling factor for the gaps, are necessary to explain the cooling of middle-aged neutron stars and to obtain a realistic distribution of neutron star masses.
ISSN:0035-8711
1365-2966
DOI:10.1093/mnras/sty147