paper

Heat blanketing envelopes and thermal radiation of strongly magnetized neutron stars

arXiv:astro-ph/0611014 · doi:10.1007/s10509-007-9362-6

Abstract

Strong (B >> 10^9 G) and superstrong (B > 10^{14} G) magnetic fields profoundly affect many thermodynamic and kinetic characteristics of dense plasmas in neutron star envelopes. In particular, they produce strongly anisotropic thermal conductivity in the neutron star crust and modify the equation of state and radiative opacities in the atmosphere, which are major ingredients of the cooling theory and spectral atmosphere models. As a result, both the radiation spectrum and the thermal luminosity of a neutron star can be affected by the magnetic field. We briefly review these effects and demonstrate the influence of magnetic field strength on the thermal structure of an isolated neutron star, putting emphasis on the differences brought about by the superstrong fields and high temperatures of magnetars. For the latter objects, it is important to take proper account of a combined effect of the magnetic field on thermal conduction and neutrino emission at densities ρ> 10^{10} g cm^{-3}. We show that the neutrino emission puts a B-dependent upper limit on the effective surface temperature of a cooling neutron star.

arXiv comment9 pages, 7 figures. Proceedings of the conference "Isolated Neutron Stars: from the Interior to the Surface" (April 24-28, 2006, London, UK). In v3, misprints concerning relativistic corrections in Eqs.(2), (4), (5), and boundary conditions are corrected

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