Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2005-05-23
Astrophys.J. 635 (2005) L61-L64
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
12 pages, including 3 figures. Submitted to ApJ Letters (revised version)
Scientific paper
10.1086/499270
It is generally believed that magnetic fields of some neutron stars, the so-called magnetars, are enormously strong, up to 10^{14} - 10^{15} G. Recent investigations have shown that the atmospheres of magnetars are possibly composed of helium. We calculate the structure and bound-bound radiative transitions of the He^+ ion in superstrong fields, including the effects caused by the coupling of the ion's internal degrees of freedom to its center-of-mass motion. We show that He^+ in superstrong magnetic fields can produce spectral lines with energies of up to about 3 keV, and it may be responsible for absorption features detected recently in the soft X-ray spectra of several radio-quiet isolated neutron stars. Quantization of the ion's motion across a magnetic field results in a fine structure of spectral lines, with a typical spacing of tens electron-volts in magnetar-scale fields. It also gives rise to ion cyclotron transitions, whose energies and oscillator strengths depend on the state of the bound ion.
Bezchastnov Victor G.
Pavlov George G.
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