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# Evolution and colours of helium-core white dwarf stars: the case of low metallicity progenitors

## 1 Introduction

Low-mass helium-core white dwarf stars (He WDs) are thought to be the result of the evolution of certain close binary systems. Mass-transfer episodes in binary systems are required to form low mass He WDs because an isolated star would need a timescale much longer than the present age of the universe to reach a WD configuration with a helium-rich interior. Low mass WDs have been detected in large surveys (Bragaglia et al. 1990; Bergeron, Saffer & Liebert 1992; Bragaglia, Renzini & Bergeron 1995; Saffer, Livio & Yungelson 1998) and represent an appreciable fraction of the total population of WD stars.

Since He WDs began to be found in numerous binary configurations (Marsh 1995; Marsh, Dhillon & Duck 1995; Lundgren et al. 1996; Moran, Marsh & Bragaglia 1997; Orosz et al. 1999; van Kerkwijk et al. 2000), they have captured the attention of many researchers who have devoted much effort to their study. Recent works with the emphasis on the evolutionary properties of these stars include Benvenuto & Althaus (1998), Hansen & Phinney (1998), Driebe et al. (1998), Sarna, Ergma & Antipova (2000), Althaus, Serenelli & Benvenuto (2001a) and Serenelli et al. (2001). In particular, Althaus et al. (2001a) have explored their evolution in a self-consistent way with nuclear burning, time dependent element diffusion and the history of the WD progenitor. Althaus et al. (2001a) find that element diffusion induces thermonuclear hydrogen shell flashes in He WDs with stellar masses greater than $``$ 0.18 M. As a result, He WDs more massive than 0.18 M are characterized by thin hydrogen envelopes and a fast evolution, while less massive He WDs evolve much more slowly. As shown by Althaus et al. (2001a), this behaviour solves the discrepancies between the spin-down ages of the millisecond pulsars B1855+09, PSR J0034-0534 and PSR J1012+5307 and the cooling ages of their He WD companions. The evolution of the Althaus et al. (2001a) stellar models in the colour-colour and in the colour-magnitude diagrams have been analysed by Serenelli et al. (2001) who find, on the basis of detailed non-grey model atmospheres, that the emergent spectrum of low mass He WDs becomes bluer within time-scales of astrophysical interest when the effective temperature decreases below 4000K. Because Serenelli et al. (2001) were interested in the late stages of He WD evolution, they did not attempt a detailed modeling of the emergent spectrum of these stars at high effective temperature stages.

Interestingly, He WDs have also been detected or inferred in open and globular clusters (Anderson 1997; Landsman et al. 1997; Edmonds et al. 1999). More recently, Edmonds et al. (2001) have optically detected the He WD companion to a millisecond pulsar in 47 Tucanae. In addition, Taylor et al. (2001) have presented evidence for a sequence of He WD canditates in the globular cluster NGC 6397. A proper interpretation of the observations of He WDs in globular clusters requires evolutionary calculations for HeWD progenitors with much lower metallicities than the solar one. In this regard, the present work is designed to extend the evolutionary calculations presented in Serenelli et al. (2001) to the case of low metallicities. In addition, the present calculations constitute an improvement over those presented in Serenelli et al. (2001). Here a more detailed treatment of the microphysics entering the WD model atmosphere than that presented in that work is considered, thus enabling us to derive accurate colours and magnitudes for He WDs at high effective temperatures where the effects of line broadening opacities are not negligible. Finally, a much more realistic treatment of mass loss phases than that attempted in Althaus et al. (2001a) and Serenelli et al. (2001) is considered in the present study. Details about our atmosphere models, evolutionary code and mass loss treatment are briefly described in Section 2. Results are presented in Section 3 and Section 4 is devoted to making some concluding remarks.

## 2 Computational details and input physics

In this section we describe the main characteristics and the input physics of both the model atmosphere and evolutionary codes. Computational details concerning calculation of pre-WD evolution are also presented.

### 2.1 Model atmosphere code

At low effective temperatures, WD cooling is sensitive to the treatment of the outer boundary condition. Thus, appropriate outer boundary conditions for the cooling He WD models are derived on the basis of detailed non-grey model atmospheres, as done in Serenelli et al. (2001). This is an important aspect as far as cool WD ages are concerned. Additionally, these model atmospheres allow us to provide a grid of colour indices and magnitudes for our evolving models. The model atmospheric structure is described at length in Rohrmann (2001). Briefly, it is based on the assumption of constant gravity, local thermodynamic equilibrium and plane-parallel geometry, and includes the hydrogen and helium species (zero metallicity). Energy transfer by radiation and convection is considered and a standard linearization technique is employed to solve the resulting equations. The following species are taken into account: H, H2, e-, H-, H+, H2+, H3+, He, He+ and He++. All relevant bound-free, free-free and scattering processes contributing to opacity have been included in our calculations. Up-to-date collision-induced absorptions (CIA opacities) due to H2-H2, H2-He and H-He collisions are taken from the cross section calculations by Borysow, Jorgensen & Fu (2001), Jorgensen et al. (2000) and Gustafsson & Frommhold (2001), respectively. CIA represents a major source of opacity in the infrared and dominates the shape of the emergent spectrum at low effective temperatures. Broadband colour indices have been calculated using the optical $`UBVRI`$ and infrared $`JHKL`$ passbands of Bessell (1990) and Bessell & Brett (1988), respectively. We use the callibration constants as derived on the basis of the synthetic flux of the model ($`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ =9400 K, $`\mathrm{log}g=3.95`$) calculated by Kurucz (1979) for Vega, rather than the constants of Bergeron, Ruiz & Leggett (1997) we employed in Serenelli et al. (2001).

In the present work, important improvements have been incorporated in our model atmospheres, which have enabled us to derive accurate colours and magnitudes for both early and advanced stages of the cooling. Specifically, hydrogen line opacities from the Lyman, Balmer and Paschen series and pseudo-continuun absorptions have been included in our calculations. Also, non-ideal effects in the computation of chemical equilibrium of mixed hydrogen and helium gases are accounted via the occupation formalism of Hummer & Mihalas (1988), together with a modified version of the optical simulation of Däppen, Anderson & Mihalas (1987) to assess opacities in non-ideal gases. For more details about the model atmospheres used in this work we refer the reader to Rohrmann et al. (2002).

In Fig. 1 we show the emergent spectrum of our 0.280 M He WD model at some selected points of its evolution. The prediction of the present calculations, plotted with solid lines, are compared with our older treatment given in Serenelli et al. (2001). Note that for effective temperatures above $``$ 7000K, hydrogen lines strongly modify the shape of the flux distribution, so their effect is expected to affect particularly the U and B colours. At low effective temperature, the emergent spectrum is modeled by the CIA opacity, and the bulk of radiation is forced to emerge at higher frequencies as compared with the blackbody prediction. As a result, most colour indices will exhibit a pronounced turnoff to the blue as the effective temperature decreases below $``$ 4000K. Note finally that the present calculation predicts a flux distribution somewhat different from that of our older treatment. This is due partly to the inclusion of nonideal effects and the use of updated CIA opacity data as well.

### 2.2 Evolutionary code and pre-white dwarf evolution

The evolutionary calculations presented in this work have been carried out with the same evolutionary code that described in Althaus et al. (2001a). We present briefly here the main physical inputs of the code and refer the reader to that article for a more comprehensive description. WD evolution is accomplished in a self-consistent way with abundance changes as predicted by element diffusion and nuclear burning. In order to achieve this, gravitational settling, and chemical and thermal diffusion of nuclear species have been fully taken into account following the multicomponent gas treatment of Burgers (1969). Hydrogen burning is considered through a complete network of thermonuclear reactions for the proton-proton chain and the CNO bi-cycle. As a result of the various diffusion processes, the metallicity distribution evolves with time; thus radiative opacities are calculated consistently with predictions from element diffusion and are taken from OPAL opacity tables (Iglesias & Rogers 1996).

Initial He WD models have been obtained by abstracting mass from a 1 M model at appropriate stages of its evolution off the main sequence. We have considered two different metallicity values for our WD progenitor models, $`Z`$= 0.001 and $`Z`$= 0.0002, chosen in order to be representative of low metallicity environments that are found in many globular clusters. For He WD models more massive than 0.2 M in the case of a metallicity value $`Z`$= 0.001 and more massive than 0.23 M for $`Z`$=0.0002, mass loss was invoked at different stages during the evolution along the red giant branch. However, for less massive models we have followed a different procedure. Mass loss is initiated soon after the 1 M model leaves the main sequence and starts its excursion redwards in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (HRD). We have followed the accepted idea that He WDs (particularly low mass He WDs) are formed in binary systems where the He WD progenitor undergoes a strong mass loss phase due to Roche lobe overflow. Indeed, for low mass models we have computed pre-WD evolution by imposing that mass loss rates are fixed by the condition that the stellar radius must remain close to the radius of the Roche lobe. To compute the radius of the Roche lobe we assume that our 1 M model has a 1.4 M companion (representative of a pulsar companion). Given the initial semiaxis of the orbit, we obtain the radius of the Roche lobe by means of the analytic approximation given by Eggleton (1983)

$$r_L=a\frac{0.49q^{2/3}}{0.6q^{2/3}+ln(1+q^{1/3})},$$
(1)
where $`r_L`$ is the radius of the Roche lobe, $`a`$ the semiaxis of the orbit and $`q`$ is the mass ratio. We have assumed that mass loss from our 1 M is fully non-conservative, i.e. all the matter lost from the WD progenitor leaves the system and carries off its intrinsic angular momentum. To this end, we have followed the formulation given by Podsiadlowski, Joss & Hsu (1992), that is

$$\frac{\dot{J}_{ML}}{J}=\frac{M}{M_1M_2}\dot{M}_1\mathrm{yr}^1.$$
(2)
Here, $`J`$ means the total angular momentum, $`\dot{J}_{ML}`$ its time derivative caused by mass loss and $`M`$ the total mass of the system. Sub-indices 1 and 2 refer to the WD progenitor and the 1.4$`M_{}`$ companion respectively. Finally $`\dot{M}_1`$ is the mass loss rate of the WD progenitor. In addition, we have also considered angular momentum losses due to gravitational wave radiation (Landau & Lifshitz 1971)

$$\frac{\dot{J}_{GR}}{J}=8.5\times 10^{10}\frac{M_1M_2M}{a^4}\mathrm{yr}^1,$$
(3)
which is an important contribution to angular momentum losses in binaries with very short periods. Finally, magnetic stellar wind braking when a convective envelope developes has also been accounted for as in Sarna et al. (2000):

$$\frac{\dot{J}_{MB}}{J}=3\times 10^7\frac{M^2R_1^2}{M_1M_2a^5}\mathrm{yr}^1.$$
(4)
In order to follow the time evolution of $`J`$, we integrate the equation

$$\frac{\dot{J}}{J}=\frac{\dot{J}_{ML}}{J}+\frac{\dot{J}_{GR}}{J}+\frac{\dot{J}_{MB}}{J}$$
(5)
and with the aid of Kepler’s third law we finally get $`a`$ (and $`r_L`$ through Eq. 1). The present treatment for mass loss is not self-consistent since the mass loss rate is not incorporated as a new unknown quantity to be solved during the iteration procedure in the Henyey scheme used to solve the stellar structure equations, but instead is fixed in advance for each model. However, we want to recall that our main interest in this work is not to analyse the properties (initial/final periods, masses, semiaxis) of binary systems that lead to the formation of HeWD-millisecond pulsar pairs, but to study the cooling time-scales and photometric properties of cooling HeWDs. Also, it is worth mentioning that the algorithm applied in the present work to simulate mass loss phases represents a much better approach to obtain physically sound initial HeWD models than that of simply abstracting mass as done previously in Althaus et al. (2001a).

For the purpose of illustration, we show in Fig. 2 the evolution in the HRD for the 0.219 M WD progenitor having initially 1 M. Note that during the first stages of mass loss, the WD progenitor evolves at almost constant radius. Small deviations from constant-radius evolution are caused by the fact that the semiaxis increases slightly as a result of mass loss from the least massive component of the pair. As evolution proceeds, an outer convection zone developes and magnetic braking starts to play an important role with the consequent result that the orbit starts to shrink. During the final stage of mass loss, the WD progenitor evolves again at constant radius until it eventually shrinks within the Roche lobe and mass loss halts. To place our results on a more quantitative basis we list in Table 1 the main characteristics for some of our less massive WD progenitors. In particular, for a given WD model, we list the metallicity, the surface hydrogen abundance at the end of mass loss phase and the initial and final period and semiaxis. We want to mention that our results agree quite well with more detailed calculations in which the mass loss phase is calculated self-consistently (Sarna et al. 2000).

We want to mention that the assumptions made in our mass loss treatment give rise to initial He WD models with relatively large hydrogen envelopes, which favours the occurrence of appreciable hydrogen burning and CNO thermonuclear flashes during the WD stage. This is also true if progenitor stars are more massive than the 1 M value assumed in this work. We have checked this assertion by performing additional calculations on the basis our mass loss prescription. However, it is possible that He WDs may also be formed in binary systems which have experienced mass loss episodes via a common-envelope stage, in which case mass transfer would be unstable. This could be the case for instance if the accretor is a C/O WD (see, for instance, Han 1998). This different evolutionary history for the He WD progenitor could affect the hydrogen layer thickness and accordingly the He WD cooling rate. The treatment of the common envelope stage is a difficult one and it has not been considered in this paper.

As stated before, two low metallicity values have been considered in this study: $`Z`$= 0.001 and $`Z`$= 0.0002 and we have computed a grid of models for each of these values. In the case of $`Z`$= 0.0002, we have followed the evolution of He WD models with stellar masses of 0.199, 0.209, 0.219, 0.225, 0.243, 0.266, 0.280, 0.300 and 0.319 M; and for the case of $`Z`$= 0.001 we considered 0.172, 0.183, 0.197, 0.230, 0.244, 0.300, 0.336, 0.380, 0.390, 0.422 and 0.449 M. All of these models were evolved from the end of mass-loss phase, during the pre-WD evolution, through the stages of hydrogen shell flashes (when they take place) down to very advanced stages of evolution.

## 3 Results

Qualitatively, the evolution of He WDs with low metallicity is not markedly different from the case of solar metallicity analysed in our previous studies (Althaus et al. 2001a). Indeed, we find that objects with masses above a certain threshold value experience several episodes of hydrogen thermonuclear flashes due to the massive hydrogen envelopes resulting from binary evolution. The existence of such flash episodes affect the further cooling history of the star. However, the low metal content has an important effect on the evolution of HeWDs, particularly regarding the occurrence and characteristics of CNO thermonuclear flashes. In broad outline, CNO flashes become less intense as the metal content is decreased. This is the main reason why loops in the HRD induced by CNO flashes are markedly less extended in the case of lowest metallicity. This is illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4, where we present the evolutionary tracks of some selected HeWD sequences with an initial metal content $`Z`$= 0.0002 and $`Z`$= 0.001 respectively.

It is worth mentioning that the stellar mass threshold (Mth) for the occurrence of CNO hydrogen flashes depends on the assumed metal content. Specifically, for $`Z`$= 0.001 and $`Z`$= 0.0002 we find a lower mass limit for the occurrence of CNO flashes of M$`{}_{\mathrm{th}}{}^{}`$ 0.22 and 0.26 M, respectively (in the case of solar metallicity Mth becomes $``$ 0.18 M; see Althaus et al. 2001a). With regard to the upper mass boundary, our most massive model with $`Z`$= 0.0002 and 0.319 M is fully unstable, whilst for the case $`Z`$= 0.001 we find a CNO hydrogen flash even for a stellar mass value as high as 0.422 M, but not in the sequence with $`M=`$ 0.449 M. We also want to comment on the fact that the mass range for the occurrence of hydrogen flashes depends on whether element diffusion is considered or not, as we find previously for the solar metallicity case (Althaus et al. 2001a). For instance, in the absence of diffusion, only our 0.280, 0.300 and 0.319 M sequences undergo thermal instabilities in the case of $`Z`$= 0.0002. For the other metallicity value, $`Z`$= 0.001, models in the range between 0.24 and 0.35 M approximately, suffer from this instabilities.

A feature worthy of comment predicted by our calculations is the existence of thermal instabilities in models with $`Z`$= 0.0002 at more advanced stages of evolution than those at which CNO flashes occur. These instabilities are related to unstable hydrogen burning via the proton-proton chains (PP) which dominate hydrogen burning at advanced ages. The existence of such PP flashes can be understood on the basis of a much thicker hydrogen envelope characterizing these models. This is a result of the CNO burning being inefficient in depleting the hydrogen content of the envelope of the star during the pre-WD evolution as well as during CNO flashes. After the end of CNO flash episodes, the radial extent of the upper boundary of the hydrogen burning shell diminishes as evolution proceeds. At the same time, some hydrogen chemically diffuses downwards to hotter layers. When the burning shell is thin enough, nuclear burning becomes unstable, as predicted by the instability criterion of Kippenhahn & Weigert (1990) (see Driebe et al. 1999 for an application of this instability criterion in the context of CNO flashes in HeWDs)

$$C^{}=C_P\left(1\frac{4_{ad}\delta }{4\alpha \frac{R_{shell}}{D}}\right)>0,$$
(6)
where $`C^{}`$ and $`C_P`$ are the gravothermal and constant pressure specific heats respectively, $`_{ad}`$ is the adiabatic gradient, $`\alpha =\left(\frac{ln\rho }{lnP}\right)_T`$, $`\delta =\left(\frac{ln\rho }{lnT}\right)_P`$, $`R_{shell}`$ is the radial coordinate of the shell and $`D`$ its radial extent (defined as the point at which nuclear burning falls below 0.001 of the maximum value). We find that this criterion is fulfilled in our models at the onset of PP flashes at $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ $``$ 8500K. In particular, this is because of the large values reached by the quantity $`R_{shell}/D`$, which exceeds 10 at the onset of the flash; while $`\alpha `$ and $`\delta `$ are close to 0.85 and 0.60 respectively.

PP-induced flashes differ from their CNO counterparts in some respects. For instance, in most cases PP flashes are less intense than the CNO ones and during flash episodes convective mixing in the outer layers of the star is less frequent than for CNO flashes. An interesting characteristic of these flashes is that after a PP hydrogen flash is initiated, the star is forced to move in the HR diagram following lines of almost constant radii close to the cooling track. Also, during each of these PP flashes, the total amount of hydrogen in the star is barely reduced by nuclear burning with the result that the star in general will experience numerous episodes of this kind. In the sequences with $`Z`$= 0.001 only those models which lack CNO flashes experience PP hydrogen flashes, but they occur at extremely high ages. All of our sequences with $`Z`$= 0.0002 are characterized by PP hydrogen flashes even if they have experienced CNO flashes earlier in their evolution. The important point to emphasize here is that the PP flashes are induced by chemical diffusion that carries some hydrogen downwards deep enough for the star to ignite hydrogen there. Except for the less massive models ($`M<`$ 0.25 M), PP flashes in the sequences with $`Z`$= 0.0002 take place between 2 and 4 Gyr after the end of mass loss episodes. In general, the more massive the He WD, the earlier in the life of the star these PP flashes occur. It is worth emphasizing again that the existence of such PP flashes in He WDs is restricted to the case of metallicity much lower than the solar metallicity. For instance, such flashes are absent in the case of models with $`Z`$= 0.02, and only our 0.172 and 0.183 M models with $`Z`$= 0.001 suffer from them. The fact that essentially models with extremely low metal content experience PP flashes can be understood on the basis that such models are left with hydrogen envelopes so massive that the tail of hydrogen distribution chemically diffusing inwards reaches hot enough layers. This increases the hydrogen burning by PP reactions and leads to a thermal instability.

In Figs. 5 and 6 we show the effective temperature as a function of cooling age for the same stellar mass values as given in Figs. 3 and 4 respectively. Note that the lack of CNO thermonuclear flashes in less massive models leads to a very slow rate of evolution, that is such models remain relatively bright even at very large ages. This is so because stable hydrogen shell burning via PP nuclear reactions constitutes the main source of luminosity over most of the entire evolution of these models. On the contrary, the existence of diffusion-induced CNO thermonuclear flashes leads eventuallyto He WD models with hydrogen envelope masses small enough for nuclear burning not to appreciably contribute to the luminosity budget of the star. Accordingly, such models are characterized by short evolutionary time-scales. This age dichotomy between models with and without CNO flashes manifests also itself in cooling sequences with a solar metal content (Althaus et al. 2001a). It is worth noting that such a dichotomy is less accentuated in the case of models with very low metal content. To place this assertion on a more quantitative basis, we mention that in reaching a value of Teff= 8000 K, models with 0.219, 0.243, 0.280 and 0.319 M ($`Z`$= 0.0002) need about 10, 8.7, 3.1 and 2.3 Gyr, respectively. In the case of $`Z`$= 0.001, models with 0.197, 0.300, 0.380 and 0.449 M need about 10, 1, 2.2 and 3.1 Gyr, respectively. The dependence of the cooling history on the assumed initial metallicity can be understood by inspecting Fig. 7 in which we show the time dependence of hydrogen burning luminosity for our 0.300 M sequences with $`Z`$= 0.001 and $`Z`$= 0.0002. In the case of $`Z`$= 0.001, after 1.5 Gyr of the occurrence of CNO flashes, stable hydrogen burning reaches a maximum contribution to surface luminosity of 35%. Afterwards, nuclear burning becomes less important as evolution proceeds. For instance, at 4 Gyr, it only contributes less than 10% to the star’s luminosity. In contrast, in the case of $`Z`$= 0.0002, stable nuclear burning contributes appreciably to surface luminosity even at an age of 6 Gyr. After CNO flashes, stable nuclear burning contributes more than 60% of the energy radiated by the star within the first 5 Gyr. This contribution drops rather abruptly during the subsequent stages of evolution, eventually reaching 10% at 7 Gyr. With regard to Fig. 7, let us finally mention that we have also included the 0.197 M sequence ($`Z`$= 0.001) which does not suffer from flash episodes. In this case, the stellar luminosity is completely supported by stable hydrogen burning along the entire cooling branch, which is clearly shown in Fig. 7.

In Figs. 8 and 9 we plot the isochrones for some selected ages in the mass-effective temperature plane for our $`Z`$= 0.001 and $`Z`$= 0.0002 models respectively. Note that at the stellar mass threshold, Mth, the isochrone plots exhibit a pronounced discontinuity. This is not surprising in view of the age dichotomy discussed earlier. The plot corresponding to $`Z`$= 0.001 models resembles that of He WD models with an initial solar-like metal content (Althaus et al. 2001b). This is particularly true regarding the presence of an age dichotomy at, in this case, M$`{}_{\mathrm{th}}{}^{}0.22`$ M. We judge that future observations of low mass WDs with millisecond pulsar companions formed in low-metallicity environments could eventually place our predictions on solid observational grounds111Tentative support for the existence of such an age dichotomy is given by the field He WD companions to PSR B1855+09 and PSR J1012+5307 millisecond pulsars (Althaus et al. 2001ab).. Another feature worthy of comment depicted by Fig. 8 is the existence of a bump in the isochrone curves at 0.380-0.390 M, particularly at low ages. This behaviour can be understood on the basis of the role played by stable PP hydrogen burning after CNO flash episodes. Specifically, after experiencing only one CNO flash, the 0.380 and 0.390 M models are left with a hydrogen envelope thin enough so as to inhibit the occurrence of another CNO flash. However, envelopes are thick enough to mantain an appreciable amount of nuclear energy release through stable PP hydrogen burning, thus slowing the cooling rate at intermediate stages of evolution. Finally, note the increase of the isochrone curves for the most massive sequence, which does not undergo any thermonuclear flash, thus resulting in comparatively large cooling ages. The situation for the case of $`Z`$= 0.0002 sequences is qualitatively similar, though the age dichotomy is less noticeable and it is located at M$`{}_{\mathrm{th}}{}^{}0.250.26`$ M. As explained earlier, this is a result of the fact that, in this case, during flash episodes CNO cycle reactions are less efficient than for higher metallicities and thus, hydrogen envelope is not so drastically consumed.

The evolution of our He WD models in the colour-magnitude diagrams is illustrated in Fig. 10, which shows the run of the absolute visual magnitude $`M_V`$ for our models as a function of the colour indices $`UV`$ and $`VI`$. Note that models which have suffered from CNO thermonuclear flashes show a turn-off in the $`VI`$ colour at $`M_V`$ 16 and $`VI`$ 1.4. This turn-off, which results from the strong CIA opacity by molecular hydrogen at low temperatures, is reached well within 15 Gyr, mostly by He WDs with $`Z`$= 0.001. After reaching the turn-off, the emergent spectrum becomes bluer and remains brighter than $`M_V`$ 17 with subsequent cooling. A similar trend has been also found for the case of solar metallicity (Serenelli et al. 2001), though in that situation He WDs with stellar masses even as low as $``$ 0.19 M reach high magnitude values.

In Fig. 10 we have also included the recent observational data of Taylor et al (2001) and Edmonds et al. (2001) for the He WD candidates in the globular clusters NGC 6397 and 47 Tucanae, respectively. For NGC 6397 we have adopted a distance modulus (m-M)V= 12.29 and E(B-V)= 0.18 (Cool et al. 1998). In the case of 47 Tucanae, (m-M)V= 13.39 and E(B-V)= 0.055 (Zoccali et al. 2001) were used to transform to absolute magnitudes and to deredden colour indices. In both cases, exctintion laws from Holtzman et al. (1995) were applied. Let us consider first the HeWD candidates in NGC 6397. Given the metal content for NGC 6397 (\[Fe/H= -1.82\]; Anthony-Twarog & Twarog 2000), then our $`Z`$= 0.0002 sequences are appropriate for a direct comparison with observations. Note that the six HeWD candidates in NGC 6397 can be split into two groups. In particular, for the three brightest stars of the observed sequence, our evolutionary models fit the observational data quite well. We find that such He WDs would be characterized by stellar mass values in the range 0.2-0.22 M, which is below the mass value for the occurrence of CNO flashes. With regard to age determination, we find ages between 0.5-1.5 Gyr for these stars. By contrast, the three dimmest stars appear to have larger radii even as compared with our least massive model ($`0.2`$M), as it is clear from the lower right panel of Fig. 10. We want to point out that, based on our mass loss treatment, we find a minimum mass value for the resulting He core remnant which is very close to 0.2 M for progenitors with $`Z`$= 0.0002. We have checked this by performing additional pre-WD calculations for different initial binary configurations. In this context, Burderi, D’Antona & Burgay (2002) have also found that their evolutionary models have smaller radii than those required to fit the observational data. In addition, they also find a minimum mass limit of $`0.2`$M for HeWDs with very low metallicity progenitors. However, it is worth noting that our models are somewhat less compact than those presented by Burderi et al. (2002). We judge that this difference could be a result of the fact that in our calculations we have included chemical element diffusion which leads to pure hydrogen envelopes and thus to models with larger radii (Althaus et al. 2001a), thus reducing the discrepancy with observations. Another point worthy of comment in connection with this second group of HeWD candidates is related to their ages. Indeed, our least massive sequence yields cooling ages between 10 and 15 Gyr for these stars.222We stress again that such large ages are expected because our less massive models are characterized by mass values well below the Mth value for the occurrence of CNO thermonuclear flashes. If we take into account the time elapsed during the pre-WD evolution (which is about 6-7 Gyr for a 1 M progenitor), then the age of these stars would be in the range 16-21 Gyr, larger than the age of the cluster, which is $`12\pm 0.8`$ Gyr (Anthony-Twarog & Twarog 2000). This suggests that the progenitors of these HeWD candidates should have been more massive than 1 M with, therefore, shorter pre-WD evolutionary ages. To explore this possibility, we have performed additional calculations with our mass loss prescription. For instance, we found that starting from a 1.4 M progenitor with a 1.4 M companion and an initial period of 0.5 days, the pre-WD evolution lasts for about 3 Gyr and the mass of the WD remnant is 0.195 M. This would help to alleviate the age discrepancy mentioned above. In this regard, we believe that a more comprehensive exploration of the binary nature leading to the formation of HeWDs, particularly for progenitors with very low metal content, is worth carrying out.

With regard to the He WD candidate in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae, we find that our evolutionary models with $`Z`$= 0.001, a metallicity value not very different from that of 47 Tucanae (\[Fe/H= -0.76\]), yield a good agreement with observations for the $`UV`$ index. In particular, we derive a stellar mass value of $``$ 0.17 M and a cooling age of about 1.5 Gyr for the WD. This age is consistent with the 2 Gyr corresponding to the spin-down age of the millisecond pulsar companion to the WD (Edmonds et al. 2001 and referenced cited therein). Note that, as far as the $`VI`$ index is concerned, we find no agreement with observational data. In fact, our evolutionary models are located too far to the blue. A lower stellar mass value (M $``$ 0.15-0.16 M) than our lowest mass sequence would be needed to match the observed $`VI`$. In the case of $`Z`$= 0.0002 and for the stellar masses we considered, we find no agreement with observations for neither of the metallicities.

Finally, we list in Table 2 and 3 some colour indices for He WD models with, respectively, $`Z`$= 0.0002 and $`Z`$= 0.001 at selected effective temperature values. We also list the surface gravity ($`g`$), the age (in Gyr), the bolometric correction ($`BC`$) and the absolute visual magnitude ($`M_V`$).

## 4 Conclusions

In this study we have explored the evolution of helium-core white dwarf (He WD) stars with progenitors having much lower metallicities than the solar metallicity usually assumed in the modeling of these stars. The models presented here are appropriate for the interpretation of recent and future observations of low-mass WDs in globular clusters. Specifically, two low metallicity values have been considered: $`Z`$= 0.001 and $`Z`$= 0.0002. In the case of $`Z`$= 0.0002, we have followed the evolution of He WD models with stellar masses of 0.199, 0.209, 0.219, 0.225, 0.243, 0.266, 0.280, 0.300 and 0.319 M; and for the case of $`Z`$= 0.001 we considered 0.172, 0.183, 0.197, 0.230, 0.244, 0.300, 0.336, 0.380, 0.390, 0.422 and 0.449 M. All of these models were evolved from the end of mass-loss phase down to very advanced phases of evolution. The binary nature of our He WD models has been simulated by abstracting mass from a 1 M model at appropriate stages of its evolution off the main sequence. Specifically, to obtain physically sound initial low-mass He WD models, mass transfer rates were derived by imposing that the stellar radius remains close to the radius of the Roche lobe. A fully non-conservative approach was assumed and the loss of angular momentum caused by gravitational wave emission as well as magnetic stellar wind braking have been taken into account.

The evolution of our He WD models has been computed in a self-consistent way with the predictions of time-dependent element diffusion and nuclear burning. A non-gray treatment for the atmosphere that considered the energy transfer by radiation and convection has been employed to derive the outer boundary conditions of our evolving models. Models atmosphere are based on a detailed treatment of the microphysics entering the WD atmospheres, such as non-ideal effects in the equation of state (as given by the occupation formalism of Hummer & Mihalas 1988) and the inclusion of hydrogen line (from the Balmer, Lyman and Paschen series) and pseudo-continuum opacities. Also, up-to-date collision-induced absorption data (Rohrmann et al. 2002) were incorporated in the computations. Such a detailed description allowed us to provide a grid of accurate colour indices and magnitudes at both early and advanced evolutionary stages, strongly improving previous efforts (Serenelli et al. 2001).

A feature worthy of comment predicted by our calculations is the existence of thermonuclear flash episodes for most of our He WD sequences. In part, this is a result of including in our computations the various chemical diffusion processes. We find that the lower the metallicity $`Z`$, the larger the minumum stellar mass for the occurrence of hydrogen thermonuclear flashes induced by the CNO cycle reactions. Specifically, for $`Z`$= 0.001 and $`Z`$= 0.0002 we find a lower mass limit for the existence of CNO flashes of $`M`$ 0.22 and 0.26 M, respectively (in the case of $`Z`$= 0.02 such a limit becomes $``$ 0.18 M; see Althaus et al. 2001a). In addition, CNO flashes become less intense as the metal content of the star is decreased and the mass range for the occurrence of such instabilities depends strongly on the inclusion of chemical diffusion processes in evolutionary calculations. We also find that the existence of a mass threshold for the occurrence of diffusion-induced CNO flashes leads to an age dichotomy (particularly for $`Z`$= 0.001) between He WD models with and without CNO thermonuclear flashes: He WDs which do not experience CNO thermonuclear flashes evolve very slowly, so they remain relatively bright even at very large ages, whilst those which suffer from such flashes are characterized by a fast cooling, reaching very low effective temperature stages within cooling times less than 15 Gyr. Such an age dichotomy is translated into distinctive features in the isochrone plots which could eventually be compared with observational expectations. It is worth mentioning that during the short-lived, CNO diffusion-induced flashes, an appreciable amount of hydrogen is burnt, ultimately implying that the WD is left with a relatively thin hydrogen envelope which prevents stable hydrogen burning from being an important energy source at late cooling stages. As a result, the star has a much lower amount of available energy, which implies much shorter evolutionary time scales as compared with the situation when CNO flashes are absent.

Another finding of this work is related to the fact that some of our He WD models experience several episodes of thermal instabilities related to unstable hydrogen burning via the proton-proton (PP) nuclear reactions. These PP flashes, which take place at more advanced stages of evolution than those at which the CNO flashes occur, are experienced by all of our sequences with $`Z`$= 0.0002. In addition, our 0.172 and 0.183 M models with $`Z`$= 0.001 suffer from PP flashes, but at exceedingly high ages. We find that PP thermal instabilities are triggered by chemical diffusion that carries some hydrogen downwards deep enough for the star to ignite hydrogen there. Except for the less massive models ($`M<`$ 0.25 M), PP flashes take place between 2 and 4 Gyr after the end of mass loss episodes, and in general, the more massive the He WD, the earlier in the star life they occur.

The evolution of our He WD models has also been analysed in the colour-magnitude diagrams. We find that models which have suffered from CNO flashes exhibit a turn-off in most of their colours at M$`{}_{\mathrm{V}}{}^{}`$ 16. This turn-off, which results from the strong CIA opacity by molecular hydrogen at low temperatures, is reached well within 15 Gyr, mostly by He WDs with $`Z`$= 0.001. Finally, the predictions of our models for the colour-magnitude diagrams have been compared with recent observational data of He WD candidates in the globular clusters NGC 6397 and 47 Tucanae (Taylor et al. 2001 and Edmonds et al. 2001, respectively). In this connection, we find that the three brightest HeWD candidates in NGC 6397 can indeed be identified as HeWDs characterized by stellar mass values of 0.20-0.22 M (which is below the mass value for the occurrence of CNO flashes) and ages ranging from 0.5 to 1.5 Gyr. However, in the case of the three dimmest candidates, the agreement with observational data is not so evident as in the case of the brightest objects. Indeed, our models appear to be more massive than required by observations. Specifically, our mass-loss treatment gives rise to a minimum value of $``$0.2 M an HeWD may have from progenitors with initially $`Z`$= 0.0002. However, it is worth noting that a $`\mathrm{\Delta }(VI)0.1`$ would allow a very good agreement between theoretical predictions and observations. In this sense, it is remarkable that the quoted uncertainty in the case of the HeWD candidate in 47 Tucanae is very close to this value (see Fig.10)333It is worth mentioning that Townsley & Bildsten (2002) have recently suggested that the three dimmest HeWD candidates in NGC 6397 could be cataclismic variables involving a hot C-O WD and a low-mass main sequence companion.. Finally the He WD in 47 Tucanae is particularly relevant because the spin-down age of its millisecond pulsar companion yields a WD age estimate. Specifically, the pulsar age of 2 Gyr (see Edmonds et al. 2001) is in agreement with the prediction of our $`Z`$= 0.001 He WD sequences. In addition, the observational data for the MV and $`UV`$ is consistent with our 0.17 M sequence.

Complete tables containing the results of the present calculations are available at http://www.fcaglp.unlp.edu.ar/evolgroup/ or upon request to the authors at their e-mail addresses.


text:
# Towards a consistent model for Neutron-Star Sources

## 1 Ten Alternatives related to Pulsars

$``$ (1) We speak of pulsars as of ‘radio pulsars’ even though the spectra $`\nu S_\nu vs\nu `$ of at least seven, perhaps already sixteen *$`\gamma `$-ray pulsars* peak at hard $`\gamma `$-rays, between $`\begin{array}{c}<\\ \end{array}`$ MeV and $`\begin{array}{c}>\\ \end{array}`$ 30 GeV photon energies. Uncertain in the spectra is their beaming fraction f = f($`\nu `$), which may well be frequency dependent. Is it justified to estimate the emitted power L via L := S $`d^2`$, rather than via L = 4 $`\pi `$ S $`d^2`$ ? The factor 4 $`\pi `$ matters in particular when we compare the bolometric luminosity of a pulsar with its spin-down power: What fraction of the spin-down power escapes as radiation, and what fraction in the wind?

For a clarification, on the observational side we need a larger number of broadband spectra; and on the theoretical side we need an insight into how and at what *separations* these spectra are emitted. Ever since Kundt & Krotscheck (1980), it is my reinforced conviction that the (coherent) radio pulses are emitted somewhere inside the magnetosphere (as is widely agreed), logarithmically halfway between the stellar radius R and the speed-of-light distance c/$`\mathrm{\Omega }`$, but that the much larger power at $`\gamma `$-rays (and X-rays) relies on a (further) transfer of spin-down power, downstream beyond c/$`\mathrm{\Omega }`$, from the co-rotating magnetosphere to the outgoing, radiating leptons, i.e. that the $`\gamma `$-rays are emitted in the “rural areas” of a pulsar’s wind-zone – in the language of Ruderman (1980) – via inverse-Compton losses of the charges (Kundt 1998b). This interpretation is consistent with an often encountered phase shift between the radio and the hard pulses. For similar reasons, I expect all the other (incoherent) pulsar emissions, between high radio frequencies and $`\gamma `$-rays, to be emitted beyond the light cylinder.

$``$ (2) How strong are *pulsar winds*, measured in units of the Goldreich-Julian rate $`\dot{N}_{GJ}:=\mu _{}\mathrm{\Omega }^2/ec`$, ($`\mu :=BR^3`$)? Are they leptonic? Mapped bowshocks of $`\begin{array}{c}>\\ \end{array}`$ 13 pulsars indicate $`\dot{N}`$ = $`\xi \dot{N}_{GJ}`$ with $`\xi 10^4`$, (Kundt 1998a). The alternative interpretation of the bowshocks – as driven by the pulsar’s outgoing Poynting flux – is at variance with our understanding of plasma electrohydrodynamics according to which a convected (toroidal) magnetic flux would require an at least comparable inertia in the flux-anchoring plasma, and a strong outgoing wave would fail to sweep the blocking CSM.

Such strong winds are independently thought to be required for the high *coherence* of the radio pulses, $`T_b\begin{array}{c}<\\ \end{array}10^{30\pm 2}K`$, wanting some $`10^{14}`$ electrons to radiate in phase (Kundt 1998a). They need not conflict with the rule that a medium does not allow wave propagation below its plasma frequency: A layered density profile of the (luminally!) outgoing wind would have the high plasma frequency in the high-density layers – the antennae – not in the low-density medium which fills the space between them.

$``$ (3) How do pulsars *drive* their strong winds, inferred under (2), with a *neutral excess plasma* measured by $`\xi 10^4`$? It has been clear from the beginning of pulsar physics that gravitational forces are too weak for driving a wind, and have the wrong sign, so that electric forces must be at work. But there is no stationary wind solution for (radial) electric forces of uniform sign, because the star would charge up in a light-crossing time, and halt further escape; cf. Pétri et al. (2002).

Instead, *oscillatory discharges* are required during which negative and positive electrons are sucked out alternatingly from the polar caps, and accelerated in the form of space-charge-limited flows. Each (highly relativistic) primary electron transfers its outward momentum to $`\xi e^\pm `$-pairs, via $`\xi `$ inverse-Compton and/or curvature photons each of which, in turn, is converted into one pair via the Erber mechanism, a photon collision with the strong, transverse magnetic field (Chang 1985). Weak – though energetic – downward currents to the polar caps, by charges of the opposite sign, guarantee ample production of $`e^\pm `$-pairs which have been predicted to form a *pair corona*, of temperature $`T=10^{6.5}`$K, dense enough for the forming wind to draw its alternating charges therefrom, irrespective of the work function of the surface (Kundt & Schaaf 1993). A derivation from first principles of these 1-d flows – along the open magnetic field lines through the star’s center (w.r.t. which the flow is symmetrical) – is now under construction, combining the textbook treatment of a long cable with the driving, largely screened unipolar-induction voltage whose AC discharges satisfy a time-dependent, relativistic Child’s Law with electron energies being limited by inverse-Compton and curvature-radiation losses.

These pair coronae, of scale height $`\begin{array}{c}<\\ \end{array}10^4`$cm, may explain why recent attempts at detecting a neutron star’s surface chemistry (via X-rays) have resulted in perfect *blackbody spectra*, (deviations $`\begin{array}{c}<\\ \end{array}10^2`$), in the case of more than seven nearby neutron stars (Burwitz et al. 2001). These coronae are thought to grow (rapidly) in column density until they get opaque to pair annihilation, of cross section $`\sigma _{ann}`$, at which column density their optical depth $`\tau `$ to photon scattering is given by $`\tau \sigma _T/\sigma _{ann}`$. In strong magnetic fields, pairs approaching each other cannot easily get rid of their angular momentum because they are trapped in the Landau ground level of gyrations, and only suffer straight-line accelerations along $`\stackrel{}{B}`$ (via mutual attraction) during flyby, with reduced radiation by about a factor of $`2^2`$ (compared to the non-magnetic case); hence their capture cross section $`\sigma _{ann}`$ will be of the order of $`\pi r_0^2/4\begin{array}{c}<\\ \end{array}10^1\sigma _T`$. *Pair coronae* are therefore expected to be *opaque* to the heat radiation from a neutron star’s surface: $`\tau \begin{array}{c}>\\ \end{array}10`$. Note that strong, pulsed pair annihilation from the polar caps of the Crab pulsar has been observed by Massaro et al. (1991), $`10^{39.9}`$ annihilations per second, consistent with above estimates.

$``$ (4) Strong *electric currents* in the wind-zone – compared with the Goldreich-Julian current density $`j_{GJ}:=e\stackrel{}{B}\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Omega }}/2\pi `$ – are in conflict with (i) a plausible driving mechanism, (ii) their closure across the polar caps, via Pedersen currents, and (iii) the (moderate) X-ray intensities (from the polar caps).

$``$ (5) How strong are pulsar *surface magnetic fields $`B_{}`$*? Pure dipole fields would be (i) unstable (inside a fluid star: Flowers & Ruderman (1977), hence are inconsistent. During a neutron star’s birth, (ii) the increasing angular velocity of the collapsing progenitor star’s core is expected to result in a (stabilizing) *toroidal bandage*, forming a ‘strangled dipole’, or ‘bandaged dipole’, with large, higher multipoles of odd order. Such strong higher multipoles are also required by (iii) the indispensable Erber mechanism (for pair formation), which needs high field strengths: $`B_{}10^{12.6}`$G $`m_ec^2/h\nu `$ for the conversion of a photon of frequency $`\nu `$, and (iv) small curvature radii $`R_c(\begin{array}{c}<\\ \end{array}R_{})`$, (Kundt 1998a). This insight requires a recalculation of the emission heights of the radio pulses, so-called ‘radius-to-frequency mapping’, which has so far only been done for dipole fields.

However, I see no indication of surface field strengths $`B_{}`$ above $`10^{14}G`$, as have been proposed for magnetars by Thompson & Duncan (1996).

$``$ (6) How do pulsars achieve their high *radio brightnesses*, $`T_b\begin{array}{c}<\\ \end{array}10^{32}K`$? The Lorentz-Dirac-Abraham-Laue equation of motion allows for coherent *small-pitchangle synchro-curvature radiation*, whose radiative term gains importance for $`Z\tau _e`$ ns, (Kundt 1998a), with a significant conversion of kinetic into radiation energy.

$``$ (7) How strongly *beamed* is pulsar radio radiation? A bulk beaming fraction $`f\begin{array}{c}<\\ \end{array}0.5`$ would be inconsistent with (i) the pulsar *birthrate* $`(\mathrm{\Delta }t)^1`$, where $`\mathrm{\Delta }t=tf/N=10^{1.3\pm 0.3}f`$ yr is the average pulsar birth interval, $`t=10^{6.4}yr`$ = average pulsar age (determined from the distribution of $`P/\dot{P}`$), and $`N`$ = number of detected pulsars $`\begin{array}{c}>\\ \end{array}10^{5.1}`$, corrected for incompleteness of detection (by means of the $`N`$ vs distance distribution). Note that pulsars are likely the younger twins in their cradle binaries, concluded from the high occurrence rate of – both progenitor, and neutron-star – binaries, and from their large peculiar velocities. The birthrate of neutron stars is then twice the birthrate of pulsars, one in 10 f yr in the Galaxy, unpleasantly high if f were $`\begin{array}{c}<\\ \end{array}`$ 0.5.

Another argument against significant bulk beaming is (ii) the missing *synchrotron nebulae* without detected central sources. The high dynamic ranges of pulsar radio emission, $`\mathrm{\Delta }I/I=10^{2\pm 2}`$, indicate a *spiky* instantaneous radiation, both in space and time, but not an avoidance of large spherical angles in the sky.

$``$ (8) Are the *msec pulsars recycled*? I don’ t think so. The *distribution* of pulsar periods is certainly *two-humped*, but there is a clear bridge region, between the two humps – containing more than 12 pulsars – and there is (i) no other property that would allow to draw a dividing line (between ‘ordinary’ and ‘recycled’ ones). Recycling (ii) ignores a braking torque, (iii) conflicts with the missing (X-ray luminous!) progenitor systems, and (iv) is at variance with the predicted much higher masses of recycled pulsars ($`>2M_{}`$). Note that not only the rotational but also the potential (oblateness) energy grows increasingly with the spin rate. A stellar core collapse is required to create a msec pulsar. The msec pulsars need not be old: their spin-down ages are probably large overestimates of their true ages, by factors of $`10^3`$, (Kundt 1998a).

There is a small subset of (six) *anomalous X-ray pulsars* (=AXPs), of spin period $`(9\pm 3)s`$, not spin-powered, but with glitches, whose ages are not known. The AXPs range at the opposite end of the 2-humped period distribution (to the ms pulsars). Were they born slow?

$``$ (9) Why are pulsar clocks *noisy*, with both discrete ‘glitches’, and continuous spin-down noise? In (Kundt 1998a) I have shown that both inaccuracies can be understood as due to a mild *super-rotation*, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Omega }/\mathrm{\Omega }\begin{array}{c}<\\ \end{array}10^3`$, of their neutral, superfluid component, of relative moment of inertia $`\mathrm{\Delta }I/I\begin{array}{c}<\\ \end{array}0.1`$, which couples to the normal component in a stochastic way. It is possible that the gradual decay of the higher (than dipole) magnetic multipole moments yields an independent contribution to a pulsar’s noisiness.

$``$ (10) Can pulsars act as *jet sources*? The recent, repeated X-ray maps by the CHANDRA satellite, of the near surroundings of the 4 pulsars: Crab, Vela, B1509-58 (in MSH 15-5*2*, = G320.4-1.2), and B1951+32 (in CTB 80), show a wealth of time-varying detail involving (i) a large number of expanding (segments of) ellipses, (ii) symmetric arrays of bright spots, and (iii) two fuzzy, antipodal, jet-like protrusions along the symmetry axis; all this out to distances of $`\begin{array}{c}<\\ \end{array}2`$ lyr from the pulsar. What goes on?

The outer ellipses have been interpreted, for some 25 yr, as due to enhanced radiation from the (equatorial) inner edge of the pulsar nebula, at the injection shock, where the pulsar wind is decelerated – from supersonic to subsonic – as it joins the outward motion of earlier generations of injected relativistic $`e^\pm `$-pairs. New are in particular the jets, but also the bright spots, and an inner ring.

The jets look like of *Eilek-type B*, i.e. like relativistic jets whose (decelerated) heads move subsonically w.r.t. their CSM, so that they get defocussed, and lack hot-spots at their outer ends. Jet-sources are thought to evolve from (edge-brightening) type A to (edge-dimming) type B, as a consequence of a decreasing ram pressure and (perhaps) an increasing ambient sound speed with increasing jet length (Kundt 2001). In the present case (of pulsars), the jets form an energetically minor constituent inside a relativistically hot environment, hence look weak already at their young ages. They look very different from the strong jets of, say, SS 433, or of some of the black-hole candidates, which latter I understand as neutron stars surrounded by heavy accretion disks.

These new *pulsar jets* tell me that our earlier understanding of pulsars has been overidealized, as isolated neutron stars inside clear skies which have swept clean a cavity around them, of radius some lightyear. Pulsar winds are too light to achieve this. Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities allow debris from the SN explosion to hang around and/or fall back, to halt the pulsar wind near its polar caps, confine it, and get it re-started, as a feeble twin jet. The transiently trapped, highly relativistic pairs escape supersonically through a self-rammed, narrow channel, and blow lobes whose intersections with the nozzle are seen glowing at X-rays, as rings and bright spots, the latter at local density enhancements of the debris. X-ray movies which have been prepared from successive maps are reported to show perplexing variability: We see locally heated matter pushed around by new generations of escaping pulsar-wind leptons.

## 2 Eight further Alternatives related (more generally) to Neutron Stars

$``$ (11) Do (essentially) all *supernovae* give birth to a neutron star? Are they thick-walled explosions, i.e. splinter bombs, implying that their remnants glow via the collisional heating of their CSM, as maintained, e.g., in (Kundt 2001)? Note the particular morphology of the Vela remnant, with its large protrusions seen at X-rays (Aschenbach et al. 1995).

$``$ (12) Must supernova remnants be distinguished from *pulsar nebulae* – like CTB 80, or G 5.3-1.0, the ‘Bird’ – the latter illuminated by a pulsar wind (Kundt & Chang 1992)? Of particular concern are the *soft $`\gamma `$-ray repeaters* (= SGRs), whose distances can be largely overestimated, and ages largely underestimated if assumed inside SNRs.

$``$ (13) Can neutron stars act as *ejectors* – in distinction to pulsars, or (accreting) binary X-ray sources – like SS 433, and create pair-plasma bubbles which escape as *jets* (Kundt 1998a; 2001)? I.e. neutron stars may behave in many different ways: like pulsars, accretors, ejectors, and ‘dead neutron stars’, among them perhaps the cosmic-ray boosters, the black-hole candidates, and the $`\gamma `$-ray bursters. Note that SS 433 has recently shown that (even) jet formation need not be without losses: Blundell et al. (2001) find radio emission in the orbit plane, at distances $`\begin{array}{c}>\\ \end{array}10^2`$ AU. Those who do not believe in in-situ acceleration must conclude that spillover relativistic pairs are convected outward by an equatorial wind.

$``$ (14) Are the *cosmic rays* generated by the corotating magnetospheres of neutron stars, via *relativistic slingshot* ejections (Kundt 2001)? Note that 20 % of all CRs above $`10^{20}`$eV are *repeaters*, i.e. come from the same direction (within $`1^0`$), asking for nearby compact sources, and that the CRs are hydrogen- and helium-deficient.

$``$ (15) Are the (bright) *supersoft X-ray sources* – with energies between 20 and 60 eV – emitted by forming massive accretion disks (between 1 and 20 $`M_{}`$, typically 5 $`M_{}`$), rather than by white dwarfs (Kundt 1996)? I think so. The record in mass is presently held by GRS 1915+105, (Greiner et al. 2001).

$``$ (16) How to explain the *super-Eddington sources*, mostly (agreed) neutron-star binaries with X-ray powers $`\begin{array}{c}<\\ \end{array}10^{41}`$erg/s? Are they due to ‘blade’ accretion from forming massive disks, i.e. due to magnetically confined, clumpy accretion in the orbit plane (Kundt 1996)?

$``$ (17) Are the *black-hole candidates* neutron-star binaries with massive accretion disks, filling the gap between the low-mass and high-mass X-ray binaries (Kundt 2001)?

$``$ (18) Are the *$`\gamma `$-ray bursts* emitted by spasmodically accreting old, nearby (Galactic) neutron stars, via clumpy accretion, as is signaled by the ($`\begin{array}{c}>\\ \end{array}`$ 6) repeaters? The SGRs are the nearest among them, from which we receive both the rare, ordinary GRBs and, in addition, the frequent softer and vastly weaker repetitions. Their afterglows – whose relativistic redshifts are reminiscent of the transverse Doppler shifts of SS 433 – would be *light echos* from their transient hadronic winds as well as from their CSM.

###### Acknowledgements.

There were times in modern sciences when one could use a significant fraction of one’s working hours for doing research, with no extra education required in how to please a group of malicious PCs; these times now belong to the past. This communication owes its existence to my younger colleagues Robindro Dutta-Roy, Jürgen Päpke, and Gernot Thuma for whose repeated help I thank them warmly. Concerning the science part, my thanks go to Bernd Aschenbach, Joachim Trümper, and to Gernot Thuma for in-depth, undoubtedly honest, and always ready discussions respectively.