2000/06/23 by Sujan Sengupta
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics #Classical mechanics #Curvature #Field (mathematics) #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #General relativity #Geometry #Gravitation #Gravitational field #Joule heating #Magnetic field #Neutron star #Physics #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Quantum electrodynamics #Quantum mechanics #Spacetime #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/317152
10 pages, Latex (aaspp4 style), 8 postscript figures, Sheduled to appear in the 20th Nov. 2000 issue of the Astrophysical Journal
arxiv created 2000/06/23 · openalex publication_date 2000/11/10 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Considering Joule heating caused by the dissipation of the magnetic field in the neutron star crust to be an efficient mechanism in maintaining a relatively high surface temperature in very old neutron stars, the role of general relativity is investigated. It is found that, although the effect of spacetime curvature produced by the intense gravitational field of the star slows down the decay rate of the magnetic field, modification of the initial magnetic field configuration and the initial field strength by the spacetime curvature results in increasing the rate of Joule heating. Hence the spacetime curvature supports Joule heating in maintaining a relatively high surface temperature which is consistent with the observational detection.