Bulk viscosity in a neutron star mantle

TL;DR

This paper investigates how bulk viscosity caused by neutrino emission in non-spherical nuclear phases of a neutron star's mantle affects oscillation damping, highlighting its dependence on temperature, frequency, and superfluidity.

Contribution

It introduces the concept that bulk viscosity in the neutron star mantle can dominate damping processes, especially in non-spherical nuclear phases, and explores its dependence on various physical parameters.

Findings

Bulk viscosity can dominate over shear viscosity in the mantle.

Bulk viscosity depends strongly on temperature, frequency, and superfluidity.

Enhanced bulk viscosity influences neutron star oscillation propagation and damping.

Abstract

We study the bulk viscosity in two (anti-spaghetti and Swiss cheese) phases of non- spherical nuclei in the mantle of an oscillating neutron star near the boundary with the stellar core. The bulk viscosity is produced by non-equilibrium Urca neutrino emis- sion processes. In the mantle, the direct Urca process may be open (Gusakov et al., 2004) if neutrons and protons move in a periodic potential created by a lattice of non- spherical nuclei (which allows the nucleons to have large quasi-momenta and satisfy direct Urca momentum-conservation). This bulk viscosity can dominate over that due to the modified Urca process in the outer stellar core and over the shear viscosity. The bulk viscosity depends strongly on temperature, oscillation frequency and nucleon superfluidity. The enhanced bulk viscosity in the mantle can control propagation and damping of neutron star oscillations.