Statistical theory of thermal evolution of neutron stars

Thermal evolution of neutron stars is known to depend on the properties of superdense matter in neutron star cores. We suggest a statistical analysis of isolated cooling middle-aged neutron stars and old transiently accreting quasi-stationary neutron stars warmed up by deep crustal heating in low-mass X-ray binaries. The method is based on simulations of the evolution of stars of different masses and on averaging the results over respective mass distributions. This gives theoretical distributions of isolated neutron stars in the surface temperature--age plane and of accreting stars in the photon thermal luminosity--mean mass accretion rate plane to be compared with observations. This approach permits to explore not only superdense matter but also the mass distributions of isolated and accreting neutron stars. We show that the observations of these stars can be reasonably well explained by assuming the presence of the powerful direct Urca process of neutrino emission in the inner cores of massive stars, introducing a slight broadening of the direct Urca threshold (for instance, by proton superfluidity), and by tuning mass distributions of isolated and accreted neutron stars.Comment: 13 pages, 20 figure

Quantum Interference Controls the Electron Spin Dynamics in n-GaAs

Manifestations of quantum interference effects in macroscopic objects are rare. Weak localization is one of the few examples of such effects showing up in the electron transport through solid state. Here we show that weak localization becomes prominent also in optical spectroscopy via detection of the electron spin dynamics. In particular, we find that weak localization controls the free electron spin relaxation in semiconductors at low temperatures and weak magnetic fields by slowing it down by almost a factor of two in $n$-doped GaAs in the metallic phase. The weak localization effect on the spin relaxation is suppressed by moderate magnetic fields of about 1 T, which destroy the interference of electron trajectories, and by increasing the temperature. The weak localization suppression causes an anomalous decrease of the longitudinal electron spin relaxation time $T_1$ with magnetic field, in stark contrast with well-known magnetic field induced increase in $T_1$. This is consistent with transport measurements which show the same variation of resistivity with magnetic field. Our discovery opens a vast playground to explore quantum magneto-transport effects optically in the spin dynamics.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure

Production of high energy particles in laser and Coulomb fields and e^+e^- antenna

A strong laser field and the Coulomb field of a nucleus can produce e^{+}e^{-} pairs. It is shown for the first time that there is a large probability that electrons and positrons created in this process collide after one or several oscillations of the laser field. These collisions can take place at high energy resulting in several phenomena. The quasielastic collision e^{+}e^{-} -> e^{+}e^{-} allows acceleration of leptons in the laser field to higher energies. The inelastic collisions allow production of high energy photons e^{+}e^{-}-> 2 gamma and muons, e^{+}e^{-} -> mu^{+}mu^{-}. The yield of high-energy photons and muons produced via this mechanism exceeds exponentially their production through conventional direct creation in laser and Coulomb fields. A relation of the phenomena considered with the antenna-mechanism of multiphoton absorption in atoms is discussed.Comment: 4 page

On the Possible Common Nature of Double Extensive Air Showers and Aligned Events

Double Extensive Air Showers and aligned events were discovered at energies E {\gtsim} 1016 eV over fourth century back. But up to now there is no sufficiently identical explanation of their nature. In this paper it is expected that both types of events are the result of breakup of the string formed in the collisions of super high energy particles