Related papers: Pulsar twinkling and relativity
We perform force-free simulations for a neutron star orbiting a black hole, aiming at clarifying the main magnetosphere properties of such binaries towards their innermost stable circular orbits. Several configurations are explored, varying…
(abridged) Pulsar activity and its related radiation mechanism are usually explained by invoking some plasma processes occurring inside the magnetosphere. Despite many detailed local investigations, the global electrodynamics around those…
The aim of the present article is to evaluate the motion of charged test particles in the vicinity of a near-extremal rotating black hole in the presence of magnetic fields. Euler-Lagrange motion equations and effective potential methods…
Studying the physical processes occurring in the region just above the magnetic poles of strongly magnetized, accreting binary neutron stars is essential to our understanding of stellar and binary system evolution. Perhaps more importantly,…
Magnetic perturbations to the frequencies of low degree, high radial order, axisymmetric pulsations in stellar models permeated by large scale magnetic fields are presented. Magnetic fields with dipolar, quadrupolar and a superposition of…
The onset and evolution of magnetic fields in laboratory and astrophysical plasmas is determined by several mechanisms, including instabilities, dynamo effects and ultra-high energy particle flows through gas, plasma and interstellar-media.…
We consider the electron-positron plasma generation processes in the magnetospheres of magnetars - neutron stars with strong surface magnetic fields, B = 10^(14) - 10^(15) G. We show that the photon splitting in a magnetic field, which is…
The pulsar light curves and energy spectra are explored in dissipative pulsar magnetospheres with the Aristotelian electrodynamics (AE), where particle acceleration is fully balanced with radiation reaction. The AE magnetospheres with…
Magneto-elastic oscillations of neutron stars are believed to explain observed quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) in the decaying tail of the giant flares of highly magnetized neutron stars (magnetars). Strong efforts of the theoretical…
Magnetars are neutron stars with superstrong magnetic fields which can exceed 1e15 G. Some magnetars (the so-called soft gamma-repeaters) demonstrate occasionally very powerful processes of energy release, which result in exceptionally…
We perform first-principles relativistic particle-in-cell simulations of aligned pulsar magnetosphere. We allow free escape of particles from the surface of a neutron star and continuously populate the magnetosphere with neutral pair plasma…
We present the first simulations of evolving, strongly twisted magnetar magnetospheres. Slow shearing of the magnetar crust is seen to lead to a series of magnetospheric expansion and reconnection events, corresponding to X-ray flares and…
The X-ray radiation produced on the surface of accreting magnetised neutron stars is expected to be strongly polarised. A swing of the polarisation vector with the pulsar phase gives a direct measure of the source inclination and magnetic…
Strong magnetic field of accreting neutron stars ($10^{14}$ G) is hard to probe by X-ray spectroscopy but can be indirectly inferred from spin-up/spin-down measurement in X-ray pulsars. The existing observations of slowly rotating X-ray…
We investigate a stationary pair production cascade in the outer magnetosphere of a spinning neutron star. The charge depletion due to global flows of charged particles, causes a large electric field along the magnetic field lines.…
Many pulsars are formed with a binary companion from which they can accrete matter. Torque exerted by accreting matter can cause the pulsar spin to increase or decrease, and over long times, an equilibrium spin rate is achieved. Application…
Magnetic-field reconnection is believed to play a fundamental role in magnetized plasma systems throughout the Universe1, including planetary magnetospheres, magnetars and accretion disks around black holes. This letter present extreme…
The origins of the various outbursts of hard X-rays from magnetars (highly magnetized neutron stars) are still unknown. We identify instabilities in relativistic magnetospheres that can explain a range of X-ray flare luminosities. Crustal…
Magnetars can accelerate cosmic rays to high energies through the unipolar effect, and are also copious soft photon emitters. We show that young, fast-rotating magnetars whose spin and magnetic moment point in opposite directions emit high…
Motivated by stability considerations and observational evidence, we argue that magnetars possess highly-tangled internal magnetic fields. We propose that the quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) seen to accompany giant flares can be…