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G. G. Pavlov (Penn State)
The large X-ray observatories, Chandra and XMM-Newton, have greatly increased our capabilities to observe and analyze thermal radiation from neutron stars. This radiation is presumably emitted from the very dense neutron star atmospheres with enormous magnetic fields. The observations of the thermal radiation, interpreted with the aid of the atmosphere models, allow one to measure the surface temperatures of neutron stars of different ages and confront them with cooling scenarios. Detection of gravitationally redshifted spectral lines can yield the mass-to-radius ratio. If the distance to the neutron star is known, one can measure its radius, which is particularly important to constrain the equation of state of the superdense matter in the neutron star interiors. Finally, one can infer the chemical composition of the atmospheres, which provides information about formation of neutron stars and their interaction with the environments. I will overview the current status of the theoretical and observational results on the thermal radiation from various types of neutron stars, discuss their implications, and outline some unsolved problems in interpretation of observations.