https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2008-00612-4
Neutron stars and pulsars
An introduction to models and observations
LUTH, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, Université Paris Diderot, 5 place Jules Janssen, 92190 Meudon, France
Corresponding author: Jerome.Novak@obspm.fr
Neutron star models require many “exotic" physical ingredients: cold ultra-dense matter, very strong gravitational and magnetic fields, high-energy radiation in X and gamma range, ... For starting, a short historical review of the notions of pulsar and neutron star are given, theoretical and numerical models for these objects are then detailed, before main observations (available and to come), together with the constraints they are putting on the models are reviewed. The pulsar emission mechanism is sketched and the last part of this introduction describes some observations using neutron stars as probes for modern physics.
© EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag, 2008