Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2008-12-11
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
5 pages, 3 figures, proceedings of the conference "A Decade of Accreting Millisecond Pulsars," Amsterdam, April 2008
Scientific paper
10.1063/1.3031212
We present results of 3D simulations of MHD instabilities at the accretion disk-magnetosphere boundary. The instability is Rayleigh-Taylor, and develops for a fairly broad range of accretion rates and stellar rotation rates and magnetic fields. It produces tall, thin tongues of plasma that penetrate the magnetosphere in the equatorial plane. The shape and number of the tongues changes with time on the inner-disk dynamical timescale. In contrast with funnel flows, which deposit matter mainly in the polar region, the tongues deposit matter much closer to the stellar equator. The instability appears for relatively small misalignment angles, $\Theta\lesssim30^\circ$, between the star's rotation and magnetic axes, and is associated with higher accretion rates. The hot spots and light curves during accretion through instability are generally much more chaotic than during stable accretion. The unstable state of accretion has possible implications for quasi-periodic oscillations and intermittent pulsations from accreting systems.
Kulkarni Akshay K.
Romanova Marina M.
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