Self-similar pressure oscillations in neutron star envelopes as probes of neutron star structure

Abstract

We study eigenmodes of acoustic oscillations of high multipolarity l ~ 100 - 1000 and high frequency (~100 kHz), localized in neutron star envelopes. We show that the oscillation problem is self-similar. Once the oscillation spectrum is calculated for a given equation of state (EOS) in the envelope and given stellar mass M and radius R, it can be rescaled to a star with any M and R (but the same EOS in the envelope). For l>300 the modes can be subdivided into the outer and inner ones. The outer modes are mainly localized in the outer envelope. The inner modes are mostly localized near the neutron drip point, being associated with the softening of the EOS after the neutron drip. We calculate oscillation spectra for the EOSs of cold-catalyzed and accreted matter and show that the spectra of the inner modes are essentially different. A detection and identification of high-frequency pressure modes would allow one to infer M and R and determine also the EOS in the envelope (accreted or ground-state) providing thus a new and simple method to explore the main parameters and internal structure of neutron stars.