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Rearrangement of the Fermi Surface of Dense Neutron Matter and Direct Urca Cooling of Neutron Stars

D. N. Voskresensky, V. A. Khodel, M. V. Zverev, J. W. Clark

astro-pharXiv:astro-ph/0003172

Abstract

It is proposed that a rearrangement of single-particle degrees of freedom may occur in a portion of the quantum fluid interior of a neutron star. Such a rearrangement is associated with the pronounced softening of the spin-isospin collective mode which, under increasing density, leads to pion condensation. Arguments and estimates based on fundamental relations of many-body theory show that one realization of this phenomenon could produce very rapid cooling of the star via a direct nucelon Urca process displaying a T5 dependence on temperature.

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