Cyclotron harmonics in opacities of isolated neutron star atmospheres

2010/03/31 by A. Y. Potekhin
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Cyclotron #Cyclotron radiation #Electron #Harmonics #Magnetic field #Neutron star #Opacity #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Supernova #astro-ph.HE #astro-ph.SR #physics.plasm-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201014781

published as Astron. Astrophys. 518 (2010) A24 · 12 pages, 5 figures. In v.5, a typo (missed sign factor) in Eq.(9) is fixed

openalex publication_date 2010/05/26 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · arxiv created 2018/04/03 · arxiv updated 2018/04/04 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Some X-ray dim isolated neutron stars (XDINS) and central compact objects in supernova remnants (CCO) contain absorption features in their thermal soft X-ray spectra. It has been hypothesized that this absorption may relate to periodic peaks in free-free absorption opacities, caused by either Landau quantization of electron motion in magnetic fields <i>B<i/> 10<sup>11<sup/> G or analogous quantization of ion motion in magnetic fields <i>B<i/> <i>><i/> 10<sup>13<sup/> G. Here, I review the physics behind cyclotron quantum harmonics in free-free photoabsorption, discuss different approximations for their calculation, and explain why the ion cyclotron harmonics (beyond the fundamental) cannot be observed.

Citations

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