Journal
NATURE PHYSICS
Volume 9, Issue 7, Pages 431-434Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/NPHYS2640
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Funding
- iLINK [2011-0303]
- Ramon y Cajal Research Fellowship
- [AYA 2010-21097-C03-02]
- [AYA2012-39303]
- [SGR2009-811]
- [TW2010005]
- [Prometeo/2009/103]
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The lack of isolated X-ray pulsars with spin periods longer than 12 s raises the question of where the population of evolved high-magnetic-field neutron stars has gone. Unlike canonical radiopulsars, X-ray pulsars are not subject to physical limits to the emission mechanism nor observational biases against the detection of sources with longer periods. Here we show that a highly resistive layer in the innermost part of the crust of neutron stars naturally limits the spin period to a maximum value of about 10-20 s. This highly resistive layer is expected if the inner crust is amorphous and heterogeneous in nuclear charge, possibly owing to the existence of a nuclear 'pasta' phase. Our findings suggest that the maximum period of isolated X-ray pulsars may be the first observational evidence for an amorphous inner crust, whose properties can be further constrained by future X-ray timing missions combined with more detailed models.
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