The cooling of neutron stars by the direct Urca process

The first results are reported from a program to reanalyze the cooling of neutron stars by including the direct Urca process in calculations. It is found that the surface temperature of a young neutron star drops dramatically after about 100 yr if the direct Urca process is allowed and nucleons do n...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Astrophysical journal Vol. 394; no. 1, Ju; pp. L17 - L20
Main Authors Page, Dany, Applegate, James H.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Legacy CDMS University of Chicago Press 20.07.1992
Subjects
Astronomy
Astrophysics
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
Late stages of stellar evolution (including black holes)
Neutron stars
Stars
Dense matter
Neutron star
Equations of state
Theoretical model
Cooling
Nucleons
Numerical simulation
Superfluidity
X ray emission
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Summary:The first results are reported from a program to reanalyze the cooling of neutron stars by including the direct Urca process in calculations. It is found that the surface temperature of a young neutron star drops dramatically after about 100 yr if the direct Urca process is allowed and nucleons do not become superfluid. If nucleon superfluidity occurs throughout the direct Urca region, the surface temperature drops to a value determined by the superfluid transition temperature after about 100 yr and decreases slowly for the next 100,000 yr, at which time surface photon cooling takes over. By comparison with observational data, it is found that superfluid transition temperatures of the order of 10 exp 9 K are required in the whole direct Urca inner core.
Bibliography:CDMS
Legacy CDMS
ISSN:0004-637X
1538-4357
DOI:10.1086/186462