end of a neutron stars life?

[space noob]

Okay, so I tried to google what would eventually happen to a neutron star and nothing showed up, so i'm gathering either no one knows or we think that it will remain a neutron star, I thought that they may become pulsars but I don't know what happens to the others, some people say they become invisible but does anyone know why this is?

[Greg H.]

Pulsars are neutron stars, though not all neutron stars are pulsars. And most of them simply fade out. They lose their rotational energy and become invisible to our ability to detect them.

 

There's a few details here, though it's mostly a PR blurb for the Fermi GR Space Telescope.

 

Neutron Stars (Fermi GR Space Telescope)

 

[Bill Angel]

Okay, so I tried to google what would eventually happen to a neutron star and nothing showed up, so i'm gathering either no one knows or we think that it will remain a neutron star, I thought that they may become pulsars but I don't know what happens to the others, some people say they become invisible but does anyone know why this is?

My understanding is that if a neutron star is heavy enough, about twice as massive as the sun or greater, it will collapse to form a black hole.

[insane_alien]

Well, we know they'll lose energy and eventually reach a very low temperature on the order of the background radiation. they'll also stop spinning as well again on suitably huge timescales. after that, as far as we can tell, nothing. there may be periods where it absorbs extra matter in the form of interstellar dust, hydrogen and possibly even planetary or star sized bodies. taking on the extra mass could push it over the limit and it will collapse into a blackhole. if it survives that, then it's possible that it'll hang around until the accelerating expansion of space rips it apart nucleon by nucleon.