THE STATISTICS OF SLOW INTERSTELLAR ACCRETION ONTO NEUTRON-STARS

We perform Monte Carlo calculations of neutron star orbits in the Galaxy adopting the birth distribution of the slow moving radio pulsar population found by Narayan and Ostriker. We incorporate a smooth model of the interstellar medium and calculate the distribution of accreted masses onto neutron stars in the solar neighborhood. We also include appendices describing a general analytic approach to the accretion problem. This agrees very well with the Monte Carlo results and is valid under more general assumptions about the interstellar matter distribution and birth properties of neutron stars. These results may be used to test theories of high-energy sources which invoke interstellar accretion. In particular we explore the implications for a model of gamma-ray bursts based on electron capture-induced starquakes.