Matter and radiation in strong magnetic fields of neutron stars

Abstract

Neutron stars are found to possess magnetic fields ranging from 10 8 G to 1015 G, much larger than achievable in terrestrial laboratories. Understanding the properties of matter and radiative transfer in strong magnetic fields is essential for the proper interpretation of various observations of magnetic neutron stars, including radio pulsars and magnetars. This paper reviews the atomic/molecular physics and condensed matter physics in strong magnetic fields, as well as recent works on modeling radiation from magnetized neutron star atmospheres/surface layers. © 2006 IOP Publishing Ltd.