arXiv subjects

Alexander Y. Potekhin

Publications and source records attributed to Alexander Y. Potekhin.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Magnetospheric flows in X-ray pulsars II: Heating, cooling and ionization degree at sub-critical accretion

Magnetospheric accretion flows in X-ray pulsars shape their spectra, polarization, and variability. We model the thermal balance of the flow enveloping the neutron star magnetosphere in the sub-critical regime ($L \lesssim 10^{37}\,\mathrm{erg\,s^{-1}}$), where radiation forces do not control the dynamics and single Compton scatterings dominate. The energy budget includes Compton heating by surface X-rays, compressional (adiabatic) heating in the converging flow, and radiative cooling dominated by free-free emission and contributed also by cyclotron emission. We show that the interplay of these processes leads to efficient cooling of the flow in the inner magnetosphere. We compute the flow temperature profile as a function of luminosity and find that near the stellar surface the temperature can fall to a few tens of eV at $L < 10^{35}\,\mathrm{erg\,s^{-1}}$. Under such conditions, the accreting plasma, modelled here as pure hydrogen, is no longer fully ionized. In the strong magnetic fields typical for X-ray pulsars, such temperatures permit partial recombination of electrons and protons into neutral hydrogen. As a result, a significant fraction of the flow becomes weakly ionized, while external illumination ionizes this gas only partially within a geometrically thin layer immediately above the neutron star surface. This implies that magnetospheric accretion at low luminosities proceeds through a partially ionized medium, in contrast to the commonly assumed fully ionized flow.

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arXiv2026

Neutron star cooling implications and magnetic field of the Vela Junior central compact object from all XMM-Newton and Chandra spectra

The central compact object (CCO) in the Vela Junior supernova remnant is a young neutron star whose relatively low X-ray flux and small distance suggest it has a mass high enough to activate fast neutrino cooling processes. Here we analyse all XMM-Newton MOS and pn and Chandra ACIS-S spectra of the Vela Junior CCO, with observations taking place over the 9 years from 2001 to 2010. We find that the best-fit flux and spectral model parameters do not vary significantly when treating each observation independently, and therefore we fit all the spectra simultaneously using various spectral models to characterize the predominantly thermal emission from the neutron star surface. Our results indicate the Vela Junior CCO has an atmosphere composed of hydrogen, a hot spot temperature (unredshifted) of 3.5x10^6 K, and a colder surface temperature of (6.6-8.8)x10^5 K. Possible absorption lines at ~0.6 keV and 0.9 keV provide evidence for the first-time of an average surface magnetic field B~3x10^10 G for this CCO, which is similar to the magnetic field of other CCOs. At the accurate new Vela Junior distance of 1.4 kpc, the observed luminosity that is dominated by the hot spot is ~5x10^32 erg s^-1. The luminosity from the rest of the colder surface is (1.3-4.0)x10^32 erg s^-1. The cool luminosity and temperature imply the Vela Junior CCO is indeed colder than many other young neutron stars and probably has a high mass that triggered fast neutrino cooling.

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arXiv2025

Neutrino beaming in ultraluminous X-ray pulsars as a result of gravitational lensing by neutron stars

X-ray pulsars experiencing extreme mass accretion rates can produce neutrino emission in the MeV energy band. Neutrinos in these systems are emitted in close proximity to the stellar surface and subsequently undergo gravitational bending in the space curved by a neutron star. This process results in the formation of a distinct beam pattern of neutrino emission and gives rise to the phenomenon of neutrino pulsars. The energy flux of neutrinos, when averaged over the neutron star's pulsation period, can differ from the isotropic neutrino energy flux, which impacts the detectability of bright pulsars in neutrinos. We investigate the process of neutrino beam pattern formation, accounting for neutron star transparency to neutrinos and gravitational bending. Based on simulated neutrino beam patterns, we estimate the potential difference between the actual and apparent neutrino luminosity. We show that the apparent luminosity can greatly exceed the actual luminosity, albeit only in a small fraction of cases, depending on the specific equation of state and the mass of the star. For example, the amplification can exceed a factor of ten for $\approx0.05\%$ of typical neutron stars with mass of $1.4\,M_\odot$. Strong amplification is less probable for neutron stars of higher mass. In the case of strange stars, a fraction of high energy neutrinos can be absorbed and the beam pattern, as well as the amplification of apparent neutrino luminosity, depend on neutrino energy.

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arXiv2021

Electron conduction opacities at the transition between moderate and strong degeneracy: Uncertainties and impact on stellar models

Electron conduction opacities are one of the main physics inputs for the calculation of low- and intermediate-mass stellar models, and a critical question is how to bridge calculations for moderate and strong degeneracy, which are necessarily performed adopting different methods. The density-temperature regime at the boundary between moderate and strong degeneracy is in fact crucial for modelling the helium cores of red giant branch stars and the hydrogen/helium envelopes of white dwarfs. Prompted by recently published new, improved calculations of electron thermal conductivities and opacities for moderate degeneracy, we study different, physically motivated prescriptions to bridge these new computations with well established results in the regime of strong degeneracy. We find that these different prescriptions have a sizable impact on the predicted He-core masses at the He-flash (up to 0.01$M_{\odot}$ for initial total masses far from the transition to non-degenerate He-cores, and up to $\sim 0.04M_{\odot}$ for masses around the transition), the tip of the red giant branch (up to $\sim$0.1~mag) and the zero age horizontal branch luminosities (up to 0.03~dex for masses far from the transition, and up to $\sim$0.2~dex around the transition), and white dwarf cooling times (up to 40-45\% at high luminosities, and up to $\sim$25\% at low luminosities). Current empirical constraints on the tip of the red giant branch and the zero age horizontal branch absolute magnitudes do not allow yet to definitely exclude any of these alternative options for the conductive opacities. Tests against observations of slowly-cooling faint WDs in old stellar populations will need to be performed to see whether they can set some more stringent constraints on how to bridge calculations of conductive opacities for moderate and strong degeneracy.

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arXiv2021

Phase-resolved X-ray spectroscopy of PSR B0656+14 with SRG/eROSITA and XMM-Newton

(abridged version) We present a detailed spectroscopic and timing analysis of X-ray observations of the bright radio-to-gamma-ray emitting pulsar PSR B0656+14, which were obtained simultaneously with eROSITA and XMM-Newton during the Calibration and Performance Verification phase of the Spektrum-Roentgen-Gamma mission (SRG) for 100 ks. Using XMM-Newton and NICER we firstly established an X-ray ephemeris for the time interval 2015 to 2020, which connects all X-ray observations in this period without cycle count alias and phase shifts. The mean eROSITA spectrum clearly reveals an absorption feature originating from the star at 570 eV with a Gaussian sigma of about 70 eV, tentatively identified earlier in a long XMM-Newton observation (Arumugasamy et al. 2018). A second absorption feature, described here as an absorption edge, occurs at 260-265 eV. It could be of atmospheric or of instrumental origin. These absorption features are superposed on various emission components, phenomenologically described as the sum of hot (120 eV) and cold (65 eV) blackbody components, both of photospheric origin, and a power-law with photon index Gamma=2. The phase-resolved spectroscopy reveals that the Gaussian absorption line at 570 eV is clearly present throughout ~60% of the spin cycle. The visibility of the line strength coincides in phase with the maximum flux of the hot blackbody. We also present three families of model atmospheres: a magnetised atmosphere, a condensed surface, and a mixed model, which were applied to the mean observed spectrum and whose continuum fit the observed data well. The atmosphere model, however, predicts too short distances. For the mixed model, the Gaussian absorption may be interpreted as proton cyclotron absorption in a field as high as 10^14 G, which is significantly higher than that derived from the moderate observed spin-down.

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arXiv2021

Skye: A Differentiable Equation of State

Stellar evolution and numerical hydrodynamics simulations depend critically on access to fast, accurate, thermodynamically consistent equations of state. We present Skye, a new equation of state for fully-ionized matter. Skye includes the effects of positrons, relativity, electron degeneracy, Coulomb interactions, non-linear mixing effects, and quantum corrections. Skye determines the point of Coulomb crystallization in a self-consistent manner, accounting for mixing and composition effects automatically. A defining feature of this equation of state is that it uses analytic free energy terms and provides thermodynamic quantities using automatic differentiation machinery. Because of this, Skye is easily extended to include new effects by simply writing new terms in the free energy. We also introduce a novel thermodynamic extrapolation scheme for extending analytic fits to the free energy beyond the range of the fitting data while preserving desirable properties like positive entropy and sound speed. We demonstrate Skye in action in the MESA stellar evolution software instrument by computing white dwarf cooling curves.

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arXiv2020

X-ray spectra and polarization from magnetar candidates

Magnetars are believed to host the strongest magnetic fields in the present universe ($B\gtrsim10^{14}$ G) and the study of their persistent emission in the X-ray band offers an unprecendented opportunity to gain insight into physical processes in the presence of ultra-strong magnetic fields. Up to now, most of our knowledge about magnetar sources came from spectral analysis, which allowed to test the resonant Compton scattering scenario and to probe the structure of the star magnetosphere. On the other hand, radiation emitted from magnetar surface is expected to be strongly polarized and its observed polarization pattern bears the imprint of both scatterings onto magnetospheric charges and QED effects as it propagates in the magnetized vacuum around the star. X-ray polarimeters scheduled to fly in the next years will finally allow to exploit the wealth of information stored in the polarization observables. Here we revisit the problem of assessing the spectro-polarimetric properties of magnetar persistent emission. At variance with previous investigations, proper account for more physical surface emission models is made by considering either a condensed surface or a magnetized atmosphere. Results are used to simulate polarimetric observations with the forthcoming Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). We find that X-ray polarimetry will allow to detect QED vacuum effects for all the emission models we considered and to discriminate among them.

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arXiv2019

Soft excess in the quiescent Be/X-ray pulsar RX J0812.4-3114

We report a 72 ks XMM-Newton observation of the Be/X-ray pulsar (BeXRP) RX J0812.4-3114 in quiescence ($L_X \approx 1.6 \times 10^{33}~\mathrm{erg~s^{-1}}$). Intriguingly, we find a two component spectrum, with a hard power-law ($Γ\approx 1.5$) and a soft blackbody-like excess below $\approx 1~\mathrm{keV}$. The blackbody component is consistent in $kT$ with a prior quiescent Chandra observation reported by Tsygankov et al. and has an inferred blackbody radius of $\approx 10~\mathrm{km}$, consistent with emission from the entire neutron star (NS) surface. There is also mild evidence for an absorption line at $\approx 1~\mathrm{keV}$ and/or $\approx 1.4~\mathrm{keV}$. The hard component shows pulsations at $P \approx 31.908~\mathrm{s}$ (pulsed fraction $0.84 \pm 0.10$), agreeing with the pulse period seen previously in outbursts, but no pulsations were found in the soft excess (pulsed fraction $\lesssim 31\%$). We conclude that the pulsed hard component suggests low-level accretion onto the neutron star poles, while the soft excess seems to originate from the entire NS surface. We speculate that, in quiescence, the source switches between a soft thermal-dominated state (when the propeller effect is at work) and a relatively hard state with low-level accretion, and use the propeller cutoff to estimate the magnetic field of the system to be $\lesssim 8.4 \times 10^{11}~\mathrm{G}$. We compare the quiescent thermal $L_X$ predicted by the standard deep crustal heating model to our observations and find that RX J0812.4-3114 has a high thermal $L_X$, at or above the prediction for minimum cooling mechanisms. This suggests that RX J0812.4-3114 either contains a relatively low-mass NS with minimum cooling, or that the system may be young enough that the NS has not fully cooled from the supernova explosion.

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arXiv2019

XMM-Newton observations of PSR J0726-2612, a radio-loud XDINS

We present the results of an XMM-Newton observation of the slowly rotating ($P = 3.4$ s), highly magnetized ($B \approx 3 \times 10^{13}$ G) radio pulsar PSR J0726-2612. A previous X-ray observation with the Chandra satellite showed that some of the properties of PSR J0726-2612 are similar to those of the X-ray Dim Isolated Neutron Stars (XDINSs), a small class of nearby slow pulsars characterized by purely thermal X-ray spectra and undetected in the radio band. We confirm the thermal nature of the X-ray emission of PSR J0726-2612, which can be fit by the sum of two blackbodies with temperatures $kT_1 = 0.074_{-0.011}^{+0.006}$ keV and $kT_2 = 0.14_{-0.02}^{+0.04}$ keV and emitting radii $R_1 = 10.4_{-2.8}^{+10.8}$ km and $R_2 = 0.5_{-0.3}^{+0.9}$ km, respectively (assuming a distance of 1 kpc). A broad absorption line modeled with a Gaussian profile centred at $0.39_{-0.03}^{+0.02}$ keV is required in the fit. The pulse profile of PSR J0726-2612 is characterized by two peaks with similar intensity separated by two unequal minima, a shape and pulsed fraction that cannot be reproduced without invoking magnetic beaming of the X-ray emission. The presence of a single radio pulse suggests that in PSR J0726-2612 the angles that the dipole axis and the line of sight make with the rotation axis, $ξ$ and $χ$ respectively, are similar. This geometry differs from that of the two radio-silent XDINSs with a double peaked pulse profile similar to that of PSR J0726-2612, for which $ξ\sim 90^\circ$ and $χ\sim 45^\circ$ have been recently estimated. These results strengthen the similarity between PSR J0726-2612 and the XDINSs and support the possibility that the lack of radio emission from the latter might simply be due to an unfavourable viewing geometry.

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arXiv2019

Role of the Symmetry Energy on the Structure of Neutron Stars with Unified Equations of State

The role of the symmetry energy on the internal constitution and the global structure of a cold nonaccreted neutron star is studied using a set of unified equations of state. Based on the nuclear energy-density functional theory, these equations of state provide a thermodynamically consistent treatment of all regions of the star and were calculated using the four different Brussels-Montreal functionals BSk22, BSk24, BSk25 and BSk26. Our predictions are compared to various constraints inferred from astrophysical observations including the recent detection of the gravitational wave signal GW170817 from a binary neutron-star merger.

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arXiv2018

Thermal emission and magnetic beaming in the radio and X-ray mode-switching PSR B0943+10

PSR B0943+10 is a mode-switching radio pulsar characterized by two emission modes with different radio and X-ray properties. Previous studies, based on simple combinations of blackbody and power law models, showed that its X-ray flux can be decomposed in a pulsed thermal plus an unpulsed non-thermal components. However, if PSR B0943+10 is a nearly aligned rotator seen pole-on, as suggested by the radio data, it is difficult to reproduce the high observed pulsed fraction unless magnetic beaming is included. In this work we reanalyze all the available X-ray observations of PSR B0943+10 with simultaneous radio coverage, modeling its thermal emission with polar caps covered by a magnetized hydrogen atmosphere or with a condensed iron surface. The condensed surface model provides good fits to the spectra of both pulsar modes, but, similarly to the blackbody, it can not reproduce the observed pulse profiles, unless an additional power law with an ad hoc modulation is added. Instead, the pulse profiles and phase-resolved spectra are well described using the hydrogen atmosphere model to describe the polar cap emission, plus an unpulsed power law. For the X-ray brighter state (Q-mode) we obtain a best fit with a temperature kT~0.09 keV, an emitting radius R~260 m, a magnetic field consistent with the value of the dipole field of 4x10^12 G inferred from the timing parameters, and a small angle between the magnetic and spin axis, $ξ$=5. The corresponding parameters for the X-ray fainter state (B-mode) are kT~0.08 keV and R~170 m.

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arXiv2015

Tests of the nuclear equation of state and superfluid and superconducting gaps using the Cassiopeia A neutron star

The observed rapid cooling of the Cassiopeia A neutron star can be interpreted as being caused by neutron and proton transitions from normal to superfluid and superconducting states in the stellar core. Here we present two new Chandra ACIS-S Graded observations of this neutron star and measurements of the neutron star mass M and radius R found from consistent fitting of both the X-ray spectra and cooling behavior. This comparison is only possible for individual nuclear equations of state. We test phenomenological superfluid and superconducting gap models which mimic many of the known theoretical models against the cooling behavior. Our best-fit solution to the Cassiopeia A data is one in which the (M,R) = (1.44 Msun,12.6 km) neutron star is built with the BSk21 equation of state, strong proton superconductor and moderate neutron triplet superfluid gap models, and a pure iron envelope or a thin carbon layer on top of an iron envelope, although there are still large observational and theoretical uncertainties.

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arXiv2010

Cooling rates of neutron stars and the young neutron star in the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant

We explore the thermal state of the neutron star in the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant using the recent result of Ho & Heinke (Nature, 462, 71 (2009)) that the thermal radiation of this star is well-described by a carbon atmosphere model and the emission comes from the entire stellar surface. Starting from neutron star cooling theory, we formulate a robust method to extract neutrino cooling rates of thermally relaxed stars at the neutrino cooling stage from observations of thermal surface radiation. We show how to compare these rates with the rates of standard candles -- stars with non-superfluid nucleon cores cooling slowly via the modified Urca process. We find that the internal temperature of standard candles is a well-defined function of the stellar compactness parameter $x=r_g/R$, irrespective of the equation of state of neutron star matter ($R$ and $r_g$ are circumferential and gravitational radii, respectively). We demonstrate that the data on the Cassiopeia A neutron star can be explained in terms of three parameters: $f_\ell$, the neutrino cooling efficiency with respect to the standard candle; the compactness $x$; and the amount of light elements in the heat blanketing envelope. For an ordinary (iron) heat blanketing envelope or a low-mass ($\lesssim 10^{-13}\,M_\odot$) carbon envelope, we find the efficiency $f_\ell \sim 1$ (standard cooling) for $x \lesssim 0.5$ and $f_\ell \sim 0.02$ (slower cooling) for a maximum compactness $x\approx 0.7$. A heat blanket containing the maximum mass ($\sim 10^{-8}\,M_\odot$) of light elements increases $f_\ell$ by a factor of 50. We also examine the (unlikely) possibility that the star is still thermally non-relaxed.

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arXiv2008

Model X-ray Spectra of Magnetic Neutron Stars with Hydrogen Atmospheres

We construct partially ionized hydrogen atmosphere models for magnetized neutron stars in radiative equilibrium with fixed surface fields between B=10^12 and 2x10^13 G and effective temperatures logT_eff=5.5-6.8, as well as with surface B and T_eff distributions around these values. The models are based on the latest equation of state and opacity results for magnetized, partially ionized hydrogen plasmas. The atmospheres directly determine the characteristics of thermal emission from the surface of neutron stars. We also incorporate these model spectra into XSPEC, under the model name NSMAX, thus allowing them to be used by the community to fit X-ray observations of neutron stars.

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arXiv2008

Radiative transitions of the helium atom in highly magnetized neutron star atmospheres

Recent observations of thermally emitting isolated neutron stars revealed spectral features that could be interpreted as radiative transitions of He in a magnetized neutron star atmosphere. We present Hartree-Fock calculations of the polarization-dependent photoionization cross sections of the He atom in strong magnetic fields ranging from 10^12 G to 10^14 G. Convenient fitting formulae for the cross sections are given as well as related oscillator strengths for various bound-bound transitions. The effects of finite nucleus mass on the radiative absorption cross sections are examined using perturbation theory.

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arXiv2006

Magnetic Hydrogen Atmosphere Models and the Neutron Star RX J1856.5-3754

RX J1856.5-3754 is one of the brightest nearby isolated neutron stars, and considerable observational resources have been devoted to it. However, current models are unable to satisfactorily explain the data. We show that our latest models of a thin, magnetic, partially ionized hydrogen atmosphere on top of a condensed surface can fit the entire spectrum, from X-rays to optical, of RX J1856.5-3754, within the uncertainties. In our simplest model, the best-fit parameters are an interstellar column density N_H \approx 1x10^20 cm^-2 and an emitting area with R^infty \approx 17 km (assuming a distance to RX J1856.5-3754 of 140 pc), temperature T^infty \approx 4.3x10^5 K, gravitational redshift z_g \sim 0.22, atmospheric hydrogen column y_H \approx 1 g cm^-2, and magnetic field B \approx (3-4)x10^12 G; the values for the temperature and magnetic field indicate an effective average over the surface. We also calculate a more realistic model, which accounts for magnetic field and temperature variations over the neutron star surface as well as general relativistic effects, to determine pulsations; we find there exist viewing geometries that produce pulsations near the currently observed limits. The origin of the thin atmospheres required to fit the data is an important question, and we briefly discuss mechanisms for producing these atmospheres. Our model thus represents the most self-consistent picture to date for explaining all the observations of RX J1856.5-3754.

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arXiv2005

Radiation from condensed surface of magnetic neutron stars

Recent observations show that the thermal X-ray spectra of many isolated neutron stars are featureless and in some cases (e.g., RX J1856.5-3754) well fit by a blackbody. Such a perfect blackbody spectrum is puzzling since radiative transport through typical neutron star atmospheres causes noticeable deviation from blackbody. Previous studies have shown that in a strong magnetic field, the outermost layer of the neutron star may be in a condensed solid or liquid form because of the greatly enhanced cohesive energy of the condensed matter. The critical temperature of condensation increases with the magnetic field strength, and can be as high as 10^6 K (for Fe surface at B \sim 10^{13} G or H surface at B \sim a few times 10^{14} G). Thus the thermal radiation can directly emerge from the degenerate metallic condensed surface, without going through a gaseous atmosphere. Here we calculate the emission properties (spectrum and polarization) of the condensed Fe and H surfaces of magnetic neutron stars in the regimes where such condensation may be possible. For a smooth condensed surface, the overall emission is reduced from the blackbody by less than a factor of 2. The spectrum exhibits modest deviation from blackbody across a wide energy range, and shows mild absorption features associated with the ion cyclotron frequency and the electron plasma frequency in the condensed matter. The roughness of the solid condensate (in the Fe case) tends to decrease the reflectivity of the surface, and make the emission spectrum even closer to blackbody. We discuss the implications of our results for observations of dim, isolated neutron stars and magnetars.

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arXiv2003

Atmospheres and Spectra of Strongly Magnetized Neutron Stars -- III. Partially Ionized Hydrogen Models

We construct partially ionized hydrogen atmosphere models for magnetized neutron stars in radiative equilibrium with surface fields B=10^12-5 \times 10^14 G and effective temperatures T_eff \sim a few \times 10^5-10^6 K. These models are based on the latest equation of state and opacity results for magnetized, partially ionized hydrogen plasmas that take into account various magnetic and dense medium effects. The atmospheres directly determine the characteristics of thermal emission from isolated neutron stars. For the models with B=10^12-10^13 G, the spectral features due to neutral atoms lie at extreme UV and very soft X-ray energy bands and therefore are difficult to observe. However, the continuum flux is also different from the fully ionized case, especially at lower energies. For the superstrong field models (B\ga 10^14 G), we show that the vacuum polarization effect not only suppresses the proton cyclotron line as shown previously, but also suppresses spectral features due to bound species; therefore spectral lines or features in thermal radiation are more difficult to observe when the neutron star magnetic field is \ga 10^14 G.

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