Matter and Radiation in Superstrong Magnetic Fields and Thermal Emission from Neutron Stars

Abstract

Thermal surface emissions have now been detected from more than a dozen isolated neutron stars, including radio pulsars, radio-quiet neutron stars and magnetars. These detections can potentially provide important information on the interior physics, magnetic fields, and surface composition of neutron stars. Understanding the properties of matter and radiative transfer in strong magnetic fields is essential for the proper interpretation of the observations. We review current theoretical works on modeling magnetized neutron star atmospheres/surface layers, discussing some of the novel properties of matter and radiative transfer in strong magnetic fields. Of particular interest is the effect of the strong-field vacuum polarization, which dramatically changes the radiative transfer and the emergent X-ray spectra from magnetars.