Related papers: Where Are All The Fallback Disks? Constraints on P…
In addition to a supermassive black hole (SMBH), the central parsec of the Milky Way hosts over a hundred of massive, high velocity young stars whose existence, and organisation of a subset of them in one, or possibly two, mis-aligned…
Massive stars generally end their lives as neutron stars (NSs) or black holes (BHs), with NS formation typically occurring at the low mass end and collapse to a BH more likely at the high mass end. In an intermediate regime, with a mass…
We discuss the options of the fall-back disk model of Anomalous X-Ray Pulsars (AXPs). We argue that the power-law index of the mass inflow rate during the propeller stage can be lower than those employed in earlier models. We take into…
The recent identification of one or two sub-parsec disks of young, massive stars orbiting the ~4e6 solar mass black hole Sgr A* has prompted an "in-situ" scenario for star formation in disks of gas formed from a cloud captured from the…
In this paper, we present the results of 3-dimensional collapse simulations of rotating stars for a range of stellar progenitors. We find that for the fastest spinning stars, rotation does indeed modify the convection above the…
We perform 3D numerical simulations in full general relativity to study the stability of rapidly rotating, supramassive neutron stars at the mass-shedding limit to dynamical collapse. We adopt an adiabatic equation of state with $\Gamma =…
Rotation-powered radio pulsars are born with inferred initial rotation periods of order 300 ms (some as short as 20 ms) in core-collapse supernovae. In the traditional picture, this fast rotation is the result of conservation of angular…
Due to the large kick velocities with which neutron stars are born in supernovae explosions, their spatial distribution is more extended than that of their progenitor stars. The large scale height of the neutron stars above the disk plane…
Theoretical work suggests that a young star's angular momentum and rotation rate may be strongly influenced by magnetic interactions with its circumstellar disk. A generic prediction of these 'disk-locking' (DL) theories is that a…
While the dipole magnetic field axis of neutron stars is usually postulated to cross the star's centre, it may be displaced from this location, as it has been recently indicated in the millisecond pulsar J0030+0451. Under these conditions,…
Stellar flybys in star clusters are suspected to affect the orbital architecture of planetary systems causing eccentricity excitation and orbital misalignment between the planet orbit and the equatorial plane of the star. We explore whether…
We chart the expected Galactic distribution of neutron stars and black holes. These compact remnants of dead stars -- the Galactic underworld -- are found to exhibit a fundamentally different distribution and structure to the visible…
We present a series of two-dimensional core-collapse supernova simulations for a range of progenitor masses and different input physics. These models predict a range of supernova energies and compact remnant masses. In particular, we study…
The non-detection of a point source in SN1987A imposes an upper limit for the optical luminosity of L=2L_sun. This limits the size of a possible fallback disk around the stellar remnant. Assuming a steady-state thin disk with blackbody…
Double Neutron Stars (DNS) have to survive two supernovae and still remain bound. This sets strong limits on the nature of the second collapse in these systems. We consider the masses and orbital parameters of the DNS population and…
Binary star systems containing a neutron star or a black hole with an evolved, massive star are dynamically perturbed when the latter undergoes a supernova explosion. It is possible that the natal kick received by the newly-formed neutron…
Simulations in general relativity show that the outcome of collapse of a marginally unstable, uniformly rotating star spinning at the mass-shedding limit depends critically on the equation of state. For a very stiff equation of state, which…
Disk accretion onto a slowly rotating neutron star with a weak magnetic field $H < 3\times 10^8$ gauss is considered in a wide range of luminosities $1/100 < L/L_{edd} < 1,$ where $L_{edd}$ is the Eddington luminosity. We construct a theory…
The gas from which stars form is magnetized, and strong magnetic fields can efficiently transport angular momentum. Most theoretical models of this phenomenon find that it should prevent formation of large (>100 AU), rotationally-supported…
A large fraction of bulgeless disk galaxies contain young compact stellar systems at their centers, in spite of the local gravitational stability of these disks. We evaluate two contrasting hypotheses for the origin of the nuclear star…