Dissipation in relativistic superfluid neutron stars

Abstract

We analyse damping of oscillations of general relativistic superfluid neutron stars. To this aim we extend the method of decoupling of superfluid and normal oscillation modes first suggested in Gusakov & Kantor. All calculations are made self-consistently within the finite temperature superfluid hydrodynamics. The general analytic formulas are derived for damping times due to the shear and bulk viscosities. These formulas describe both normal and superfluid neutron stars and are valid for oscillation modes of arbitrary multipolarity. We show that (i) use of the ordinary one-fluid hydrodynamics is a good approximation, for most of the stellar temperatures, if one is interested in calculation of the damping times of normal f modes, (ii) for radial and p modes such an approximation is poor and (iii) the temperature dependence of damping times undergoes a set of rapid changes associated with resonance coupling of neighbouring oscillation modes. The latter effect can substantially accelerate viscous damping of normal modes in certain stages of neutron-star thermal evolution. © 2012 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.