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Title: Crust-cooling Models Are Insensitive to the Crust–Core Transition Pressure for Realistic Equations of State

Journal Article · · The Astrophysical Journal (Online)
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3]
  1. Ohio Univ., Athens, OH (United States); Joint Inst. for Nuclear Astrophysics (JINA), East Lansing, MI (United States). Center for the Evolution of the Elements (JINA-CEE); Ohio University
  2. Ohio Univ., Athens, OH (United States); Joint Inst. for Nuclear Astrophysics (JINA), East Lansing, MI (United States). Center for the Evolution of the Elements (JINA-CEE)
  3. Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States); Joint Inst. for Nuclear Astrophysics (JINA), East Lansing, MI (United States). Center for the Evolution of the Elements (JINA-CEE)

Neutron stars cooling after sustained accretion outbursts provide unique information about the neutron star crust and underlying dense matter. Comparisons between astronomical observations of these cooling transients and model calculations of neutron star crust cooling have frequently been used to constrain neutron star properties such as the mass, radius, crust composition, and presence of nuclear pasta. These calculations often use a fixed pressure at which the crust–core transition happens, though this quantity depends on the dense matter equation of state. We demonstrate that varying the crust–core transition pressure in a manner consistent with adopting various equations of state results in modest changes to the crust-cooling light curve. Finally, this validates the approach adopted in most crust-cooling studies to date, where the neutron star mass and radius are varied while leaving the crust–core transition pressure constant.

Research Organization:
Ohio Univ., Athens, OH (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP) (SC-26); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0019042; FG02-93ER40756; FG02-88ER40387
OSTI ID:
1593726
Journal Information:
The Astrophysical Journal (Online), Journal Name: The Astrophysical Journal (Online) Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 882; ISSN 1538-4357
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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