On seeing a neutron star

Astronomical evidence for the presence of neutron stars is reviewed. The Einstein Observatory is equipped for soft X ray detection in the 0.1-5 keV band expected to be associated with the few hundred thousand to a few million degree surface temperatures of neutron stars. Surface temperatures of 1,000,000 K, for young pulsars, and 100,000 K (lasting 1-10 million yr) are predicted. Heating processes causing emissions include magnetic pole bombardment with relativistic particles, frictional coupling between a slowing crust and a faster spinning superfluid interior, and the magnetic dipole radiation of neutrons in the superfluid vortices of the core. The two known radio pulsar-SNR associations, in the Crab Nebula and in Vela, are considered as apparently uncommon results of supernovae in the galaxy. An anomaly is noted to exist in the lack of young pulsars among supernova remnants, and it is suggested that supernovae may produce 'fizzlers' as another form of neutron stars.