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The accretion of matter onto the surface of a neutron star in a low-massX-ray binary triggers X-ray bursts, whose ashes are buried and furtherprocessed thus altering the composition and the properties of the stellarcrust. In this second paper of a series, the impact of accretion on theequation of state and on the global properties of neutron stars is studied inthe framework of the nuclear energy-density functional theory. Consideringashes made of $^{56}$Fe, we calculated the equations of state using the sameBrussels-Montreal nuclear energy-density functionals BSk19, BSk20, and BSk21,as those already employed for determining the crustal heating in our previousstudy for the same ashes. All regions of accreting neutron stars were treatedin a unified and thermodynamically consistent way. With these equations ofstate, we determined the mass, radius, moment of inertia, and tidaldeformability of accreted neutron stars and compared with catalyzed neutronstars for which unified equations of state based on the same functionals areavailable. The equation of state of accreted neutron stars is found to besignificantly stiffer than that of catalyzed matter, with an adiabatic index$\Gamma \approx 4/3$ throughout the crust. For this reason, accreting neutronstars have larger radii. However, their crustal moment of inertia and theirtidal deformability are hardly changed provided density discontinuities at theinterface between adjacent crustal layers are properly taken into account. Theenhancement of the stiffness of the equation of state of accreting neutronstars is mainly a consequence of nuclear shell effects, thus confirming theimportance of a quantum treatment as stressed in our first study. With ourprevious calculations of crustal heating using the same functionals, we havethus obtained consistent microscopic inputs for simulations of accretingneutron stars.

Accreting neutron stars from the nuclear energy-density functional theory. II. Equation of state and global properties