Multidimensional thermal structure of magnetized neutron star envelopes

Abstract

Recently launched x-ray telescopes have discovered several candidate isolated neutron stars. The thermal radiation from these objects may potentially constrain our understanding of nuclear physics in a realm inaccessible to terrestrial experiments. To translate the observed fluxes from neutron stars into constraints, one needs precise calculations of the heat transfer through the thin insulating envelopes of neutron stars. We describe models of the thermal structure of the envelopes of neutron stars with magnetic fields up to 10^{14} G. Unlike earlier work, we infer the properties of envelope models in two dimensions and precisely account for the quantization of the electron phase space. Both dipole and uniformly magnetized envelopes are considered.