6533b836fe1ef96bd12a1550
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Kicked neutron stars and microlensing
Esteban RouletSilvia Mollerachsubject
PhysicsAstrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical PhenomenaAstrophysics (astro-ph)FOS: Physical sciencesAstronomy and AstrophysicsScale heightAstrophysicsAstrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic AstrophysicsGravitational microlensingAstrophysicsStarsNeutron starSupernovaHigh Energy Physics - PhenomenologyGravitational lensHigh Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)PulsarSpace and Planetary ScienceAstrophysics::Solar and Stellar AstrophysicsAstrophysics::Earth and Planetary AstrophysicsLarge Magellanic CloudAstrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysicsdescription
Due to the large kick velocities with which neutron stars are born in supernovae explosions, their spatial distribution is more extended than that of their progenitor stars. The large scale height of the neutron stars above the disk plane makes them potential candidates for microlensing of stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Adopting for the distribution of kicks the measured velocities of young pulsars, we obtain a microlensing optical depth of $\tau \sim 2 N_{10} \times 10^{-8}$ (where $N_{10}$ is the total number of neutron stars born in the disk in units of $10^{10}$). The event duration distribution has the interesting property of being peaked at $T \sim 60$--80 d, but for the rates to be relevant for the present microlensing searches would require $N_{10} \gtap 1$, a value larger than the usually adopted ones ($N_{10} \sim 0.1$--0.2).
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996-09-02 |