A highly resistive layer within the crust of X-ray pulsars limits their spin periods
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Title: | A highly resistive layer within the crust of X-ray pulsars limits their spin periods |
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Authors: | Pons, José A. | Viganò, Daniele | Rea, Nanda |
Research Group/s: | Astrofísica Relativista |
Center, Department or Service: | Universidad de Alicante. Departamento de Física Aplicada |
Keywords: | X-ray pulsars | Spin periods | Highly resistive layer | Crust of neutron stars | Nuclear ‘pasta’ phase |
Knowledge Area: | Astronomía y Astrofísica |
Issue Date: | 9-Jun-2013 |
Publisher: | Nature Publishing Group |
Citation: | Nature Physics. 2013, 9: 431-434. doi:10.1038/nphys2640 |
Abstract: | The lack of isolated X-ray pulsars with spin periods longer than 12 s raises the question of where the population of evolved high-magnetic-field neutron stars has gone. Unlike canonical radiopulsars, X-ray pulsars are not subject to physical limits to the emission mechanism nor observational biases against the detection of sources with longer periods. Here we show that a highly resistive layer in the innermost part of the crust of neutron stars naturally limits the spin period to a maximum value of about 10–20 s. This highly resistive layer is expected if the inner crust is amorphous and heterogeneous in nuclear charge, possibly owing to the existence of a nuclear ‘pasta’ phase. Our findings suggest that the maximum period of isolated X-ray pulsars may be the first observational evidence for an amorphous inner crust, whose properties can be further constrained by future X-ray timing missions combined with more detailed models. |
Sponsor: | This work has been supported by the Spanish MEC grants AYA 2010-21097-C03-02, AYA2012-39303, SGR2009-811, TW2010005 and iLINK 2011-0303. NR is supported by a Ramon y Cajal Research Fellowship and DV by the Prometeo/2009/103 grant. |
URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/10045/33858 |
ISSN: | 1745-2473 (Print) | 1745-2481 (Online) |
DOI: | 10.1038/nphys2640 |
Language: | eng |
Type: | info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
Rights: | © 2013 Nature Publishing Group |
Peer Review: | si |
Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nphys2640 |
Appears in Collections: | INV - Astrofísica Relativista - Artículos de Revistas |
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2013_Pons_Vigano_Rea_NaturePhys-pre.pdf | Preprint (acceso abierto) | 239,73 kB | Adobe PDF | Open Preview |
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