The Lives Of The Neutron Stars

This NATO AS! was the third in the series of Advanced Study Institutes on neutron stars, which started with 'Timing Neutron Stars', held in Qe§me near izmir, Turkey (April 1988), followed by 'Neutron Stars, an Interdis ciplinary Subject', held in Agia Pelagia on the island of Crete (September 1990). The first school centered on our main observational access to neu tron stars, i. e. the timing of radio pulsars and accretion powered neutron stars, and on what timing of neutron stars teaches us of their structure and environment. The second school had as its theme the interplay between diverse areas of physics which find interesting, even exotic applications in the extreme conditions of neutron stars and their magnetospheres. As the field has developed, with the number of observed neutron stars rapidly in creasing, and our knowledge of many individual neutron stars getting deeper and more detailed, an evolutionary picture of neutron stars has started to emerge. This led us to choose 'The Lives of the Neutron Stars' as the uni fying theme of this third Advanced Study Institute on neutron stars. Different types of neutron star activity have been proposed to follow one another in stages during the lives of neutron stars in the same basic population; the evolutionary connection between low-mass X-ray binaries and millisecond radio pulsars is perhaps the prime example.

Neutron stars, the ultra-dense remnants of exploded stellar giants, are among the most fascinating objects in the cosmos. Katia Moskvitch introduces readers to their astonishing qualities and follows the scientists who are discovering what neutron stars can tell us about the mysteries of dark matter, black holes, and general relativity.

Neutron stars are the most compact astronomical objects in the universe which are accessible by direct observation. Studying neutron stars means studying physics in regimes unattainable in any terrestrial laboratory. Understanding their observed complex phenomena requires a wide range of scientific disciplines, including the nuclear and condensed matter physics of very dense matter in neutron star interiors, plasma physics and quantum electrodynamics of magnetospheres, and the relativistic magneto-hydrodynamics of electron-positron pulsar winds interacting with some ambient medium. Not to mention the test bed neutron stars provide for general relativity theories, and their importance as potential sources of gravitational waves. It is this variety of disciplines which, among others, makes neutron star research so fascinating, not only for those who have been working in the field for many years but also for students and young scientists. The aim of this book is to serve as a reference work which not only reviews the progress made since the early days of pulsar astronomy, but especially focuses on questions such as: "What have we learned about the subject and how did we learn it?", "What are the most important open questions in this area?" and "What new tools, telescopes, observations, and calculations are needed to answer these questions?". All authors who have contributed to this book have devoted a significant part of their scientific careers to exploring the nature of neutron stars and understanding pulsars. Everyone has paid special attention to writing educational comprehensive review articles with the needs of beginners, students and young scientists as potential readers in mind. This book will be a valuable source of information for these groups.

Come to Larry Niven's Universe and meet all the natives: Thrints, Bandersnatchi, Puppeteers -- and a host of other wonderfully created characters. Visit Lookitthat, Down, and Jinx -- indeed, an entire galaxy of planets found only in these stories that trace man's expansion and colonization throughout Known Space. A spectacular cycle of the future . . . a 10,000-year history of man on Earth and in space!

The idea for organizing an Advanced Study Institute devoted largely to neutron star timing arose independently in three places, at Istanbul, Garching and Amster dam; when we became aware of each other's ideas we decided to join forces. The choice of a place for the Institute, in Turkey, appealed much to us all, and it was then quickly decided that Qe§me would be an excellent spot. When the preparations for the Institute started, early in 1987, we could not have guessed how timely the subject actually was. Of course, the recently dis covered QPO phenomena in accreting neutron stars and half a dozen binary and millisecond radio pulsars known at the time formed one of the basic motivations for organizing this Institute. But none of us could have guessed that later in 1987 we were to witness the wonderful discovery of the binary and millisecond radio pulsars in globular clusters and, -as if Nature wished to give us a special present for this the discovery in March 1988 of a millisecond pulsar in an eclipsing binary Institu- system, the first eclipsing radio pulsar ever found, and the second fastest in the sky! The discussion of this pulsar, its formation and fate was one of the highlights of this meeting, especially since its discoverers were among the participants of the Institute and could provide us with first-hand information.

The book gives an extended review of theoretical and observational aspects of neutron star physics. With masses comparable to that of the Sun and radii of about ten kilometres, neutron stars are the densest stars in the Universe. This book describes all layers of neutron stars, from the surface to the core, with the emphasis on their structure and equation of state. Theories of dense matter are reviewed, and used to construct neutron star models. Hypothetical strange quark stars and possible exotic phases in neutron star cores are also discussed. Also covered are the effects of strong magnetic fields in neutron star envelopes.

Neutron stars are the densest observable bodies in our universe. Born during the gravitational collapse of luminous stars - a birth heralded by spectacular supernova explosions - they open a window on a world where the state of the matter and the strengths of the fields are anything but ordinary. This book is a collection of pedagogical lectures on the theory of neutron stars, and especially their interiors, at the forefront of current research. It addresses graduate students and researchers alike, and should be particularly suitable as a text bridging the gap between standard textbook material and the research literature.

This book is a collation of the contributions presented at a major conference on isolated neutron stars held in London in April 2006. Forty years after the discovery of radio pulsars it presents an up-to-date description of the new vision of isolated neutron stars that has emerged in recent years. The great variety of isolated neutron stars, from pulsars to magnetars, is well covered by descriptions of recent observational results and presentations of the latest theoretical interpretation of these data.