2004/11/30 by С. Б. Попов, S. Popov, H. Grigorian +2 · 5 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #High-pressure geophysics and materials #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #astro-ph #hep-ph #nucl-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20042412
published as Astron.Astrophys. 448 (2006) 327 · 10 pages, 7 figures, table extended, references added, final version to appear in Astron. & Astrophys
arxiv created 2005/10/29 · openalex publication_date 2006/02/17 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
The study of thermal emission from isolated, cooling neutron stars plays a key role in probing the physical conditions of both the star crust and the core. The comparison of theoretical models for the star thermal evolution with the surface temperature derived from X-ray observations of sources of different age is one of the main tools to investigate the properties of the interior and constrain the equation of state. Here we propose to use population synthesis studies as an independent approach to test the physics governing the star cooling. Theoretical distributions depend on the assumed neutron star thermal evolution. We have computed distributions for several different cooling scenarios and found that comparison with the observed of isolated neutron stars is effective in discriminating among cooling models. Among the eleven cooling models considered in this paper, all of which may reproduce the observed temperature vs. age diagram, only at most three can explain the distribution of close-by cooling neutron stars. The test, being a “global” one and despite some limitations, appears indeed capable to ideally complement the standard temperature vs. age test used up to now.