Related papers: Magnetars
Magnetars are highly-magnetised rotating neutron stars that are predominantly observed as high-energy sources. Six of this class of neutron star are known to also emit radio emission, and magnetars are, thus, a favoured model for the origin…
Neutron stars are the densest, directly observable stellar objects in the universe and serve as unique astrophysical laboratories to study the behavior of matter under extreme physical conditions. This book chapter is devoted to describing…
Neutron stars contain persistent, ordered magnetic fields that are the strongest known in the Universe. However, their magnetic fluxes are similar to those in magnetic A and B stars and white dwarfs, suggesting that flux conservation during…
Neutron stars are compact objects rotating at high speed, up to a substantial fraction of the speed of light (up to 20\% for millisecond pulsars) and possessing ultra-strong electromagnetic fields (close to and sometimes above the quantum…
The most strongly magnetized neutron stars, the magnetars, have spectacular outbursts of gamma-ray flares powered by decay of the magnetic field. The rapidly changing field is strong enough that it should be able to stress and rupture the…
We review the current status of the theory of thermal emission from the surface layers of neutron stars with strong magnetic fields $B\sim 10^{10}-10^{15}$ G, including formation of the spectrum in a partially ionized atmosphere and at a…
A number of disparate observational and theoretical pieces of evidence indicate that, contrary to the conventional wisdom, neutron stars' closed field lines are populated by dense, hot plasma and may be responsible for producing some radio…
The recent years have brought great advances in our knowledge of magnetic fields in cool giant and supergiant stars. For example, starspots have been directly imaged on the surface of an active giant star using optical interferometry, and…
The last decade has shown us that the observational properties of neutron stars are remarkably diverse. From magnetars to rotating radio transients, from radio pulsars to `isolated neutron stars,' from central compact objects to millisecond…
The recent measurement by Bignami and co-workers of the magnetic field of a neutron star for the first time gives a value that differs by about two orders of magnitude from the expected value. The speculation has been that the nuclear…
Neutron stars have the strongest magnetic fields known anywhere in the Universe. In this review, I intend to give a pedagogical discussion of some of the related physics. Neutron stars exist because of Pauli's exclusion principle, in two…
The presence of magnetic fields at the surfaces of many massive stars has been suspected for decades, to explain the observed properties and activity of OB stars. However, very few genuine high-mass stars had been identified as magnetic…
Two classes of X-ray/$\gamma$-ray sources, the Soft Gamma Repeaters and the Anomalous X-ray Pulsars have been identified with isolated, slowly spinning magnetars, neutron stars whose emission draws energy from their extremely strong…
Magnetars are compact stars which are observationally determined to have very strong surface magnetic fields of the order of $10^{14}-10^{15}$G. The centre of the star can potentially have a magnetic field several orders of magnitude…
Neutron stars cool down during their lifetime through the combination of neutrino emission from the interior and photon cooling from the surface. Strongly magnetised neutron stars, called magnetars, are no exception, but the effect of their…
Neutron stars contain the strongest magnetic fields known in the Universe. In this paper, I discuss briefly how these magnetic fields are inferred from observations, as well as the evidence for their time-evolution. I show how these…
Magnetism is a ubiquitous property of astrophysical plasmas, yet stellar magnetism still remains far from being completely understood. In this review, we describe recent observational and modelling efforts and progress to expand our…
We argue that pulsars may be spin-polarized neutron stars, i.e. cosmic permanent magnets. This would simply explain several observational facts about pulsars, including the 'beacon effect' itself i.e. the static/stable misalignment of…
The origin of ultra-intense magnetic fields on magnetars is a mystery in modern astrophysics. We model the core collapse dynamics of massive progenitor stars with high surface magnetic fields in the theoretical framework of a self-similar…
The extraordinary energetic activity of magnetars is usually explained in terms of dissipation of a huge internal magnetic field of the order of $10^{15-16}$G. How such a strong magnetic field can originate during the formation of a neutron…