Nuclear-shell flashes on accreting neutron stars

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics

Scientific paper

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Neutron Stars, Stellar Evolution, Stellar Mass Accretion, Stellar Models, Thermonuclear Reactions, X Ray Sources, Abundance, Helium, Hydrogen, Nuclear Astrophysics, Stellar Mass, Stellar Temperature

Scientific paper

Nuclear-shell flashes in the envelope of accreting neutron stars subject to variations in the neutron star mass and thermal state of the envelope have been followed using a numerical model. It is found that thermonuclear runaways can develop in either a hydrogen- or helium-rich layer. The character of the shell flash, for a given neutron-star mass, depends upon the rate of mass accretion and envelope thermal state. The properties of the computed bursts of high-mass models (M = 1.41 solar masses) are in reasonable agreement with the average properties of X-ray bursts. For Z(CNO) = 0.02 (and spherical symmetry) combined hydrogen-helium flashes should be important for those cases where burst intervals are less than 10 hr. Helium-shell flashes could be important for those bursters which exhibit longer recurrence time scales. Implications of the results to the active and inactive phases of X-ray bursters are briefly discussed.

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