Statistics – Computation
Scientific paper
Oct 1985
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1985a%26a...151..361w&link_type=abstract
Astronomy and Astrophysics (ISSN 0004-6361), vol. 151, no. 2, Oct. 1985, p. 361-371. Research supported by the Max-Planck-Gesell
Statistics
Computation
65
Neutron Stars, Pulsars, Stellar Mass, Stellar Rotation, X Ray Binaries, Computational Astrophysics, Earth Magnetosphere, Mach Number, Magnetohydrodynamics, Nonlinear Evolution Equations
Scientific paper
The interaction between a fast-rotating, magnetized neutron star, and matter that it captures gravitationally from an external source, is examined with the help of a 2-dimensional MHD code. The plasma-magnetospheric boundary is shown to be subject to strong Kelvin-Helmholtz and gravity-driven interchange instabilities, which result in efficient mixing as well as the rapid 'shredding' of the component of the magnetic field along the shear flow. In a quasi-steady 'propeller', a comparatively dense envelope builds up around and compresses the magnetosphere (with matter being sucked in preferentially near the direction of the rotation axis and being expelled perpendicular to it). As it attempts to enforce corotation, the magnetospheric field is twisted by the boundary-layer vortex motions into loops, which float outward, transferring angular momentum through the atmosphere. The magnitude of the spindown torque exerted on the neutron star through this dynamo-like process is sufficient to account for the long periods of many of the observed binary X-ray pulsars.
Robertson John A.
Wang Yu-Ming
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