Surface Temperature of Magnetized Neutron Stars

We show that the expected inhomogeneous temperature distribution induced at the surface of a neutron star by the anisotropy of heat transport in the magnetized envelope allows us to understand quite well the observed pulse profiles of the four nearby pulsars for which surface thermal emission has been detected. However, due to gravitational lensing, dipolar magnetic fields are not adequate and the observed high pulsed fractions force us to include a quadrupolar component.