SIMBAD references

We model the thermal states of both isolated neutron stars and accreting neutron stars in X-ray transients in quiescence and confront them with observations. We use an equation of state calculated using realistic two-body and three-body nucleon interactions, and superfluid nucleon gaps obtained using the same microscopic approach in the BCS approximation. Consistency with low-luminosity accreting neutron stars is obtained, as the direct Urca process is operating in neutron stars with mass larger than 1.1 M_☉ for the employed equation of state. In addition, proton superfluidity and sufficiently weak neutron superfluidity, obtained using a scaling factor for the gaps, are necessary to explain the cooling of middle-aged neutron stars and to obtain a realistic distribution of neutron star masses.