Some Thermodynamic Problems of Neutron Stars

1939年，J·罗伯特·奥本海默首次提出了这样一种观点，即高度凝聚的恒星质量太大，不足以成为白矮星，它可能以固体“中子星”的形式存在。从那时起，超新星核直接坍塌成中子星(有时是一种旋转的、磁化的形式，称为“脉冲星”)的想法现在被广泛接受。尽管取得了这一进展，但人们对它们的辐射和内部结构性质知之甚少。脉冲星中的“恒星震动”等现象表明，至少存在两个由液态核和固体“壳”组成的中子。首席调查员(PI)将研究与中子星内部有关的各种主题，包括超新星爆炸后辐射从内部到表面的传输，反之亦然，这可以用来做出与地面或航天器上X射线探测器的观测相匹配的预测。她将把现代的“状态方程”微物理学纳入到这些计算中，并将确定磁场和被称为“WIMPS”的奇异粒子对这些模型的影响。这项工作与预期在麦哲伦星云SN1987A中探测到超新星核的时间不谋而合，随着爆炸喷出物的发射变得微弱，超新星核应该很快就会变得可见。预计对这一残留物的探测(甚至没有探测到)将阐明在中子星中哪些相互竞争的物理过程是重要的。该奖项所支持的工作应在这一理解中发挥关键作用。

The idea that highly condensed stars too massive to become white dwarfs could exist as solid "neutron stars" was first advanced by J. Robert Oppenheimer in 1939. Since that time the idea that supernovae nuclei collapse directly into neutron stars (sometimes in a rotating, magnetized form called "pulsars") is now widely accepted. Despite this progress, rather little is understood about their radiation and internal structural properties. Such phenomena as "star quakes" in pulsars suggest that the there are at least two of neutrons consisting of a liquid core and a solid "crust". The Principal Investigator (PI) will study a variety of topics dealing with the interiors of neutron stars, including the transport of radiation from their interior to the surface, and vice versa just after a supernovae explosion, which can be used to make predictions that can be matched with observations, either from the ground or from X-ray detectors on spacecraft. She will include modern "equation of state" microphysics into these calculations and will determine what effects magnetic fields and exotic particles called "WIMPS" have on these models. This work coincides with the expected detection of the nucleus of the supernova in the Magellanic Cloud, SN1987a, which should become visible shortly as emission from the exploding ejecta becomes faint. It is anticipated that the detection (and even non-detection) of this remnant will elucidate which of various competing physical processes are important in neutron stars. The work supported by this award should play a key part in this understanding.