Superfluid Heat Conduction and the Cooling of Magnetized Neutron Stars

2008/07/29 by Deborah N. Aguilera, D. N. Aguilera, Vincenzo Cirigliano +4 · 74 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Anisotropy #Astrophysics #Condensed matter physics #High-pressure geophysics and materials #Magnetic field #Neutron star #Optics #Phonon #Physics #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics #Superfluidity #Thermal conduction #Thermal conductivity #Thermodynamics #astro-ph #nucl-th

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.102.091101

published in Physical Review Letters 102(9), 091101 (American Physical Society) · 4 pages, 3 figures

arxiv created 2008/07/29 · openalex publication_date 2009/03/03 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

We report on a new mechanism for heat conduction in the neutron star crust. We find that collective modes of superfluid neutron matter, called superfluid phonons, can influence heat conduction in magnetized neutron stars. They can dominate the heat conduction transverse to the magnetic field when the magnetic field B> approximately 10(13) G. At a density of rho approximately 10(12)-10(14) g/cm3, the conductivity due to superfluid phonons is significantly larger than that due to lattice phonons and is comparable to electron conductivity when the temperature approximately 10(8) K. This new mode of heat conduction can limit the surface anisotropy in highly magnetized neutron stars. Cooling curves of magnetized neutron stars with and without superfluid heat conduction could show observationally discernible differences.

Citations

• Electron thermal conductivity owing to collisions between degenerate electrons
• Neutron star cooling after deep crustal heating in the X-ray transient KS 1731–260
• The magnificent seven: magnetic fields and surface temperature distributions
• Thermal conductivity of ions in a neutron star envelope

Cited by

• Magnetars: the physics behind observations. A review
• Goldstone modes in the neutron star core
• Collective excitations in the neutron star inner crust
• Phase separation in low-density neutron matter
• Unifying the observational diversity of isolated neutron stars via magneto-thermal evolution models
• Shear viscosity of two-flavor inhomogenous color superconducting quark matter
• Unified description of neutron superfluidity in the neutron-star crust with analogy to anisotropic multiband BCS superconductors
• Neutron polaron as a constraint on nuclear density functionals
• Role of the symmetry energy on the neutron-drip transition in accreting and nonaccreting neutron stars

Related

• Thermal conductivity of ions in a neutron star envelope
• Thermal conduction and thermopower of inner crusts of magnetized neutron stars
• Thermal and transport properties of the neutron star inner crust
• Transport coefficients in superfluid neutron stars
• Neutron Stars—Cooling and Transport