Introduction to neutron star physics

Question

I enjoy thinking about theoretical astrophysics because I want to understand black holes. Given that no one understands black holes, I like to ponder the nearest thing to a black hole: a neutron star! I have searched around the web for pedagogical discussions of the structure of neutron stars such as this link from NASA: http://heasarc.nasa.gov/docs/objects/binaries/neutron_star_structure.html, but none seems to be at an advanced enough level for my liking. The problem is that I do not know what literature I should read in order to learn more.

What is the current state of neutron star research? What are some good review articles?

More specifically, I am curious about theoretical predictions for "starquakes" referenced in the link above, and how they would look to an observer on Earth. I would also be interested in understanding what happens to gas falling onto a neutron star -- specifically, if Sol was spiraling to its death by a neutron star.

Answer 1

There are a few standard textbooks on neutron star.

For interior structure and nuclear physics side two books by Glendenning are good.

http://www-nsdth.lbl.gov/~nkg/description.html

For more general relativity side Shapiro and Teukolsky has been a standard texk book for many years.

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Holes-White-Dwarfs-Neutron/dp/0471873160

Finally, if you seek for real rigor, a new book by Friedman & Stergioulas is must.

http://www.amazon.com/Rotating-Relativistic-Stergioulas-Cambridge-Monographs/dp/0521872545

There are several review papers including two in Living Review.

http://relativity.livingreviews.org/Articles/lrr-2003-3/

http://relativity.livingreviews.org/Articles/lrr-2007-1/

Several by Lattimer and Prakash are also good starting point. For example,

http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0612440