Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2008-02-22
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
accepted by MNRAS
Scientific paper
10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13139.x
We examine the hydromagnetic stability of magnetically confined mountains, which arise when material accumulates at the magnetic poles of an accreting neutron star. We extend a previous axisymmetric stability analysis by performing three-dimensional simulations using the ideal-magnetohydrodynamic (ideal-MHD) code \textsc{zeus-mp}, investigating the role played by boundary conditions, accreted mass, stellar curvature, and (briefly) toroidal magnetic field strength. We find that axisymmetric equilibria are susceptible to the undular sub-mode of the Parker instability but are not disrupted. The line-tying boundary condition at the stellar surface is crucial in stabilizing the mountain. The nonlinear three-dimensional saturation state of the instability is characterized by a small degree of nonaxisymmetry ($\la 0.1$ per cent) and a mass ellipticity of $\epsilon \sim 10^{-5}$ for an accreted mass of $M_a = 10^{-5} M_\odot$. Hence there is a good prospect of detecting gravitational waves from accreting millisecond pulsars with long-baseline interferometers such as Advanced LIGO. We also investigate the ideal-MHD spectrum of the system, finding that long-wavelength poloidal modes are suppressed in favour of toroidal modes in the nonaxisymmetric saturation state.
Melatos Andrew
Vigelius Matthias
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