Electron-positron energy deposition rate from neutrino pair annihilation on the rotation axis of neutron and quark stars

Abstract

We investigate the deposition of energy due to the annihilations of neutrinos and antineutrinos on the rotation axis of rotating neutron and quark stars, respectively. The source of the neutrinos is assumed to be a neutrino-cooled accretion disc around the compact object. Under the assumption of the separability of the neutrino null geodesic equation of motion, we obtain the general relativistic expression of the energy deposition rate for arbitrary stationary and axisymmetric space-times. The neutrino trajectories are obtained by using a ray tracing algorithm, based on numerically solving the Hamilton-Jacobi equation for neutrinos by reversing the proper time evolution. We obtain the energy deposition rates for several classes of rotating neutron stars, described by different equations of state of the neutron matter, and for quark stars, described by the MIT bag model equation of state and in the colour-flavour-locked phase, respectively. The electron-positron energy deposition rate on the rotation axis of rotating neutron and quark stars is studied for two accretion disc models (isothermal disc and accretion disc in thermodynamical equilibrium). Rotation and general relativistic effects modify the total annihilation rate of the neutrino-antineutrino pairs on the rotation axis of compact stellar general relativistic objects, as measured by an observer at infinity. The differences in the equations of state for neutron and quark matter also have important effects on the spatial distribution of the energy deposition rate by neutrino-antineutrino annihilation. © 2010 The Authors Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society © 2010 RAS.