Deep crustal heating by neutrinos from the surface of accreting neutron stars

F. J. Fattoyev, Edward F. Brown, Andrew Cumming, Alex Deibel, C. J. Horowitz, Bao-An Li, and Zidu Lin
Phys. Rev. C 98, 025801 – Published 13 August 2018

Abstract

We present a new mechanism for deep crustal heating in accreting neutron stars. Charged pions (π+) are produced in nuclear collisions on the neutron star surface during active accretion and upon decay they provide a flux of neutrinos into the neutron star crust. For massive and/or compact neutron stars, neutrinos deposit 12MeV of heat per accreted nucleon into the inner crust. The strength of neutrino heating is comparable to the previously known sources of deep crustal heating, such as from pycnonuclear fusion reactions, and is relevant for studies of cooling neutron stars. We model the thermal evolution of a transient neutron star in a low-mass x-ray binary, and in the particular case of the neutron star MXB 1659-29 we show that additional deep crustal heating requires a higher thermal conductivity for the neutron star inner crust. A better knowledge of pion-production cross sections near threshold would improve the accuracy of our predictions.

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  • Received 27 October 2017
  • Revised 29 June 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.98.025801

©2018 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Gravitation, Cosmology & AstrophysicsNuclear Physics

Authors & Affiliations

F. J. Fattoyev1,*, Edward F. Brown2,3,4,†, Andrew Cumming5,‡, Alex Deibel6,§, C. J. Horowitz1,∥, Bao-An Li7,¶, and Zidu Lin1,#

  • 1Center for Exploration of Energy and Matter and Department of Physics, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, USA
  • 2Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, 567 Wilson Rd, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA
  • 3National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA
  • 4The Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics - Center for the Evolution of the Elements
  • 5Department of Physics and McGill Space Institute, McGill University, 3600 rue University, Montreal QC H3A 2T8, Canada
  • 6Department of Astronomy, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, USA
  • 7Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University-Commerce, Commerce, Texas 75429, USA

  • *ffattoye@indiana.edu
  • ebrown@pa.msu.edu
  • andrew.cumming@mcgill.ca
  • §adeibel@indiana.edu
  • horowit@indiana.edu
  • bao-an.li@tamuc.edu
  • #zidulin@imail.iu.edu

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Issue

Vol. 98, Iss. 2 — August 2018

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