Population Synthesis of isolated Neutron Stars

Resumen

Neutron Stars present a wide variety from the observational point of view. The advent of new and powerful detectors and instruments has opened a new era where the classical picture of neutrons stars seen as radio-pulsars has been modified with new classes such as magnetars, X-ray Isolated Neutron Stars (XINSs) or Central Compact Objects (CCOs) in Supernova Remnants . In addition to the more than 2500 sources detected in the radio band, more than two hundred have also been detected as X-ray and gamma-ray sources. This number is expected to increase in the near future. Despite this apparent diversity, some studies demand a theory able to explain the different classes in terms of the same physical scenario (Kaspi, 2010), in which the evolution of the magnetic field appears to play an important role (Viganò et al., 2013). The Population Synthesis of Neutron Stars, which is the central subject of this thesis, is an interesting approach to understand the problem, as both intrinsic properties and observational biases are taken into account. These technique is based on Monte Carlo methods, applied to simulate the whole population of neutron stars. The main objective of the thesis has been to perform a multi-wavelength study of the different populations of Neutron Stars focusing in the effects of magneto-thermal evolution. This report consists of a global summary of the objectives, methods and main results of the thesis. It is structured as follows. The first chapter gives an introduction to Neutron Stars. Chapter two is a description of the method of Population Synthesis of Neutron Stars. In chapter three a global discussion of the main results is presented. Chapter four closes the report with the conclusions. An appendix is also included which constitutes a description of a method based on the pulsar current analysis.