An effective potential for electron-nucleus scattering in neutrino-pair bremsstrahlung in neutron star crust

Abstract

Abstract.We derive an analytic approximation for the emissivity of neutrino-pair bremsstrahlung (NPB) due to scattering of electrons by atomic nuclei in a neutron star (NS) crust of any realistic composition. The emissivity is expressed through generalized Coulomb logarithm by introducing an effective potential of electron-nucleus scattering. In addition, we study the conditions at which NPB in the crust is affected by strong magnetic fields and outline the main effects of the fields on neutrino emission in NSs. The results can be used for modelling of many phenomena in NSs, such as cooling of young isolated NSs, thermal relaxation of accreting NSs with overheated crust in soft X-ray transients and evolution of magnetars.