Diffusive nuclear burning in cooling simulations and application to new temperature data of the Cassiopeia A neutron star

Abstract

A critical relation in the study of neutron star cooling is the one between surface temperature and interior temperature. This relation is determined by the composition of the neutron star envelope and can be affected by the process of diffusive nuclear burning (DNB), which occurs when elements diffuse to depths where the density and temperature are sufficiently high to ignite nuclear burning. We calculate models of H-He and He-C envelopes that include DNB and obtain analytic temperature relations that can be used in neutron star cooling simulations. We find that DNB can lead to a rapidly changing envelope composition and prevents the build-up of thermally stable hydrogen columns y${}_H$ > 10${}^7$ g cm${}^{-2}$, while DNB can make helium envelopes more transparent to heat flux for surface temperatures $T_s$ > 2 $\times 10^6$ K. We perform neutron star cooling simulations in which we evolve temperature and envelope composition, with the latter due to DNB and accretion from the interstellar medium. We find that a time-dependent envelope composition can be relevant for understanding the long-term cooling behaviour of isolated neutron stars. We also report on the latest Chandra observations of the young neutron star in the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant; the resulting 13 temperature measurements over more than 18 years yield a ten-year cooling rate of $\approx$ 2%. Finally, we fit the observed cooling trend of the Cassiopeia A neutron star with a model that includes DNB in the envelope.

16 pages, 15 figures, 4 tables; accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (58)

• The NumPy array: a structure for efficient numerical computation
• On the Absorption of X-rays in the Interstellar Medium
• The equation of state for nucleon matter and neutron star structure
• Neutron Star Structure and the Equation of State
• A unified equation of state of dense matter and neutron star structure
• Minimal Cooling of Neutron Stars: A New Paradigm
• Supernova remnants: the X-ray perspective
• Rapid Cooling of the Neutron Star in Cassiopeia A Triggered by Neutron Superfluidity in Dense Matter
• Cooling neutron star in the Cassiopeia~A supernova remnant: Evidence for superfluidity in the core
• The Expansion Asymmetry and Age of the Cassiopeia A Supernova Remnant
• Analytical representations of unified equations of state for neutron-star matter
• Neutron stars - cooling and transport
• A Neutron Star with a Carbon Atmosphere in the Cassiopeia A Supernova Remnant
• Direct Observation of the Cooling of the Cassiopeia A Neutron Star
• Renormalization group approach to neutron matter: quasiparticle interactions, superfluid gaps and the equation of state
• Spin-down Measurement of PSR J1852+0040 in Kesteven 79: Central Compact Objects as Anti-Magnetars
• The Spin-down of PSR J0821-4300 and PSR J1210-5226: Confirmation of Central Compact Objects as Anti-Magnetars
• Thermal structure and cooling of superfluid neutron stars with accreted magnetized envelopes
• Thermal structure and cooling of neutron stars with magnetized envelopes
• Variability in the Thermal Emission from Accreting Neutron Star Transients
• Tests of the nuclear equation of state and superfluid and superconducting gaps using the Cassiopeia A neutron star
• Cooling rates of neutron stars and the young neutron star in the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant
• Limit on the Axion Decay Constant from the Cooling Neutron Star in Cassiopeia A
• Measuring the Cooling of the Neutron Star in Cassiopeia A with all Chandra X-ray Observatory Detectors
• Atmospheres and radiating surfaces of neutron stars
• Central Compact Objects in Supernova Remnants
• New constraints on the cooling of the Central Compact Object in Cas A
• Cooling of Accretion-Heated Neutron Stars
• On the Cooling of the Neutron Star in Cassiopeia A
• Enhanced cooling of neutron stars via Cooper-pairing neutrino emission
• Bondi Accretion and the Problem of the Missing Isolated Neutron Stars
• Bondi Accretion in the Presence of Vorticity
• Nucleon effective masses within the Brueckner-Hartree-Fock theory: Impact on stellar neutrino emission
• Axion mass limit from observations of the neutron star in Cassiopeia A
• Evolution of Young Neutron Star Envelopes
• Nuclear medium cooling scenario in the light of new Cas A cooling data and the 2 M_sun pulsar mass measurements
• Diffusive Nuclear Burning of Helium on Neutron Stars
• Diffusive Nuclear Burning on Neutron Star Envelopes
• Diffusive Nuclear Burning in Neutron Star Envelopes
• Upper limits on the rapid cooling of the Central Compact Object in Cas A
• Rapid cooling of the compact star in Cassiopea A as a phase transition in dense QCD
• Cooling of Compact Stars with Color Superconducting Phase in Quark Hadron Mixed Phase
• Impact of Rotation-Driven Particle Repopulation on the Thermal Evolution of Pulsars
• Modeling the Surface X-ray Emission and Viewing Geometry of PSR J0821-4300 in Puppis A
• Modeling the X-rays from the Central Compact Object PSR J1852+0040 in Kesteven 79: Evidence for a Strongly Magnetized Neutron Star
• Is the Compact Source at the Center of Cas A Pulsed?
• Cassiopeia A and direct URCA cooling
• The neutron star in Cassiopeia A: equation of state, superfluidity, and Joule heating
• Diffusive heat blanketing envelopes of neutron stars
• ${}^1$S${}_0$ Neutron Pairing vs Observations of Cooling Neutron Stars
• Study of a new central compact object: The neutron star in the supernova remnant G15.9+0.2
• Rapid cooling of neutron star in Cassiopeia A and r-mode damping in the core
• The Morphologies and Kinematics of Supernova Remnants
• Probing the possibility of hotspots on the central neutron star in HESS J1731-347
• Opacities and spectra of hydrogen atmospheres of moderately magnetized neutron stars
• X-ray Absorption in Young Core-Collapse Supernova Remnants
• CXOU J160103.1-513353: another CCO with a carbon atmosphere?
• Central compact objects and their magnetic fields

Cited by in corpus (40)

• Dense Nuclear Matter Equation of State from Heavy-Ion Collisions
• Thermal luminosities of cooling neutron stars
• Astrophysical Axion Bounds: The 2024 Edition
• Magnetic, thermal and rotational evolution of isolated neutron stars
• Magnetic, thermal and rotational evolution of isolated neutron stars
• A NICER View of PSR J1231$-$1411: A Complex Case
• What is the nature of the HESS J1731-347 compact object?
• NS 1987A in SN 1987A
• Constraining the Neutron Star Mass--Radius Relation and Dense Matter Equation of State with NICER. III. Model Description and Verification of Parameter Estimation Codes
• Heat blanketing envelopes of neutron stars
• Do Central Compact Objects have Carbon Atmospheres?
• The Radius of PSR J0740+6620 from NICER and XMM-Newton Data
• Atmospheric Effects on Neutron Star Parameter Constraints with NICER
• Cooling of young neutron stars and dark gauge bosons
• Cooling Theory Faced with Old Warm Neutron Stars: Role of Non-Equilibrium Processes with Proton and Neutron Gaps
• Rapid neutron star cooling triggered by dark matter
• X-ray bounds on cooling, composition, and magnetic field of the Cassiopeia A neutron star and young central compact objects
• The cooling of the Central Compact Object in Cas A from 2006 to 2020
• $R$-mode Stability of GW190814's Secondary Component as a Supermassive and Superfast Pulsar
• Insights into the physics of neutron star interiors from pulsar glitches
• Dark gauge boson production from neutron stars via nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung
• Model-independent constraints on superfluidity from the cooling neutron star in Cassiopeia A
• Constraints on neutron star superfluidity from the cooling neutron star in Cassiopeia A using all Chandra ACIS-S observations
• Force on a neutron quantised vortex pinned to proton fluxoids in the superfluid core of cold neutron stars
• Entrainment effects in neutron-proton mixtures within the nuclear-energy density functional theory. I. Low-temperature limit
• The impact of asymmetric dark matter on the thermal evolution of nucleonic and hyperonic compact stars
• Crust cooling of the neutron star in Aql X-1: Different depth and magnitude of shallow heating during similar accretion outbursts
• Many-body approximations to the superfluid gap and critical temperature in pure neutron matter
• The effect of diffusive nuclear burning in neutron star envelopes on cooling in accreting systems
• X-ray spectral analysis of the neutron star in SNR 1E 0102.2-7219
• What causes the absence of pulsations in Central Compact Objects in Supernova Remnants?
• Gapless superfluidity in neutron stars: Thermal properties
• Gapless superfluidity in neutron stars: Normal-fluid fraction
• Hybrid cooling of the Cassiopeia A neutron star
• Investigating Time Evolution of Thermal Emission from the Putative Neutron Star in SN 1987A for 50+ Years
• Neutron star cooling within the equation of state with induced surface tension
• Cooling of the Cassiopeia A neutron star and the effect of diffusive nuclear burning
• Probing Strong Field $f(R)$ Gravity and Ultra-Dense Matter with the Structure and Thermal Evolution of Neutron Stars
• On the Cooling of Compact Stars in Light of the HESS J1731-347 Remnant
• Axion Emission from Proton Cooper Pairs in Neutron Stars