  The spin frequencies of neutron stars in low-mass X-ray binaries may be
limited by the emission of gravitational waves. A candidate for producing such
steady emission is a mass asymmetry, or "mountain", sourced by temperature
asymmetries in the star's crust. A number of studies have examined
temperature-induced shifts in the crustal capture layers between one nuclear
species and another to produce this asymmetry, with the presence of capture
layers in the deep crust being needed to produce the required mass asymmetries.
However, modern equation of state calculations cast doubt on the existence of
such deep capture layers. Motivated by this, we investigated an alternative
source of temperature dependence in the equation of state, coming from the
pressure supplied by the solid crustal lattice itself. We show that
temperature-induced perturbations in this pressure, while small, may be
significant. We therefore advocate for more detailed calculations,
self-consistently calculating both the temperature asymmetries, the
perturbations in crustal lattice pressure, and the consequent mass asymmetries,
to establish if this is a viable mechanism for explaining the observed
distribution of low-mass X-ray binary spin frequencies. Furthermore, the
crustal lattice pressure mechanism does not require accretion, extending the
possibility for such thermoelastic mountains to include both accreting and
isolated neutron stars.
