A&A 609, A74 (2018) Astronomy DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201731866 & c ESO 2018 Astrophysics Magnetic neutron star cooling and microphysics A. Y. Potekhin1; 2; 3 and G. Chabrier1; 4 1 Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon, Université de Lyon, Université Lyon 1, Observatoire de Lyon, École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, CNRS, UMR 5574, 46 allée d’Italie, 69364 Lyon Cedex 07, France 2 Ioffe Institute, Politekhnicheskaya 26, 194021 Saint Petersburg, Russia e-mail:
[email protected] 3 Central Astronomical Observatory at Pulkovo, Pulkovskoe Shosse 65, 196140 Saint Petersburg, Russia 4 School of Physics, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QL, UK Received 31 August 2017 / Accepted 24 October 2017 ABSTRACT Aims. We study the relative importance of several recent updates of microphysics input to the neutron star cooling theory and the effects brought about by superstrong magnetic fields of magnetars, including the effects of the Landau quantization in their crusts. Methods. We use a finite-difference code for simulation of neutron-star thermal evolution on timescales from hours to megayears with an updated microphysics input. The consideration of short timescales (.1 yr) is made possible by a treatment of the heat- blanketing envelope without the quasistationary approximation inherent to its treatment in traditional neutron-star cooling codes. For the strongly magnetized neutron stars, we take into account the effects of Landau quantization on thermodynamic functions and thermal conductivities. We simulate cooling of ordinary neutron stars and magnetars with non-accreted and accreted crusts and compare the results with observations. Results. Suppression of radiative and conductive opacities in strongly quantizing magnetic fields and formation of a condensed radiating surface substantially enhance the photon luminosity at early ages, making the life of magnetars brighter but shorter.