Do neutron stars burn forever?

[HarpyHarpySeal]

I Googled it and read all sorts of space books but none say if neutron stars go supernova.

 

[billslugg]

Here is a vast simplification: Neutron star is the ashes of a star, it can't burn any further. It has energy in the form of rotational kinetic energy and it has energy in magnetic fields. All of those will radiate away over eons. Eventually it will be a cold, stable mass.

 

[Harry Costas]

Neutron Stars have a compaction of 10^17
It has been observed to show properties of a Quark core.
When a core of a star collects enough matter, to form a Neutron Core, the size will develop Dipolar Electromagnetic fields strong enough to expel in the form of an hourglass its solar envelope.
The spin of a Neutron Star, is understood by understanding Chiral Supersymmetry that exhibits Dipolar Electromagnetic Vector fields, expelling matter away, and attracts matter to it.
Neutron Star is not the ashes from a star.
How long will it burn?
Billions of years.
If it's allowed to burn, in time the dipolar magnetic fields lose their power allowing the expelled matter to collect and a solar envelope will form.
If matter is collected than the Neutron matter will break down to quarks, compact to a Quark star and in so doing increase its dipolar vector fields and the vector fields pulling in matter forming a mimic black hole where EMR cannot escape.

 

[Harry Costas]

A Neutron Star if it keeps gaining matter will grow and become a monster.
Without gaining matter will last for over 7 billion years.

All matter will eventually merge, eat others, or be eaten.

 

[promytius]

I thought matter cannot be destroyed; eating it doesn't do anything to it; also, what matter eats matter? Large clumps of matter attract more matter, but there's no digestion, no gnashing of teeth. 7 billion years is a far piece short of forever.

 

[Harry Costas]

Matter cannot be created or destroyed.
Matter and energy can transform from one phase to the next.
So matter and energy can keep on changing forever and ever AMEN.

 

[billslugg]

Mass cannot be created or destroyed. There are two types of mass. One type is matter and the other type is energy. Matter and energy are interchangeable. We see it most notably in the omnipresent .511 MeV radiation from pair annihiliation. There are whole stars based on pair production.

I read up on magnetars, that is neutron stars with 10^12 Tesla magnetic fields. The field is so strong, that its energy content is greater than its equivalent in mass. In other words, if you said "I am going to take a volume of solid lead and then convert the lead into energy, and then use that energy to make a magnetic field in that volume", I would not have enough energy. Thus a magnetic field can store more energy than a mass can. This is amazing.

 

[billslugg]

One thing about magnetic fields is they tend to push the item apart. Large toroids must have steel bands around them to keep the coils from exploding. The neutron star gains its field from spinning which comes from conservation of angular momentum as it collapsed. With the extreme gravity, the star is able to spin without blowing up, and it is allowed to have an extreme magnetic field without blowing up.

 

[Harry Costas]

The condensate similar to a magnet creates the magnetic fields.
The Condensate is the store and the magnetic fields are the resultant.
Chliral Super-Symmentry within the compact core creates the Dipolar Electro-Magnetic Vector Fields.