Heating from Electron Captures by Nuclei in Magnetar Crusts

The decay of the magnetic field in the interior of a magnetar may trigger electron captures by nuclei in the stellar crust, thus providing an internal source of heating. In turn, the onset of electron captures and the heat released are altered by the magnetic field due to the Landau-Rabi quantization of electron motion. The loss of magnetic pressure might also lead to pycnonuclear fusions of the lightest elements. The maximum amount of heat that can be possibly released by each reaction and their location are calculated using nuclear data from both experiments and theoretical predictions of the Brussels-Montreal models based on self-consistent Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov calculations. Results are found to be consistent with those inferred empirically by comparing neutron-star cooling simulations with observed thermal luminosity of soft gamma-ray repeaters and anomalous X-ray pulsars.