Diffusive Nuclear Burning in Neutron Star Envelopes

Abstract

We present a new mode of hydrogen burning on neutron stars (NSs) called diffusive nuclear burning (DNB). In DNB, the burning occurs in the exponentially suppressed tail of hydrogen that extends to the hotter regions of the envelope where protons are readily captured. Diffusive nuclear burning changes the compositional structure of the envelope on timescales $\sim 10^{2-4} {\rm yrs}$, much shorter than otherwise expected. This mechanism is applicable to the physics of young pulsars, millisecond radio pulsars (MSPs) and quiescent low mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs).