Thermal radiation from molecular chains in ultra-strong magnetic fields

Magnetic fields exceeding 10^{12} G exist at the surface of certain neutron stars and magnetars. In such fields, atomic structure is fundamentally altered, allowing for the formation of long molecular chains. These chains may dominate the emission properties of certain stars. In this talk, we present recent theoretical work on the spectra and polarization structure of the radiation emitted from these chains. We find that accounting for electron-electron interactions is essential, and our theory makes extensive use of the Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid model. The radiation is composed of discrete and continuous components, and its non-universal form offers signatures of the composition of the chains as well as the ambient magnetic field.