Layered ferromagnet-superconductor structures: the π\pi state and proximity effects

We investigate clean mutilayered structures of the SFS and SFSFS type, (where the S layer is intrinsically superconducting and the F layer is ferromagnetic) through numerical solution of the self-consistent Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations for these systems. We obtain results for the pair amplitude, the local density of states, and the local magnetic moment. We find that as a function of the thickness $d_F$ of the magnetic layers separating adjacent superconductors, the ground state energy varies periodically between two stable states. The first state is an ordinary "0-state", in which the order parameter has a phase difference of zero between consecutive S layers, and the second is a "$\pi$-state", where the sign alternates, corresponding to a phase difference of $\pi$ between adjacent S layers. This behavior can be understood from simple arguments. The density of states and the local magnetic moment reflect also this periodicity.Comment: 12 pages, 10 Figure

Middle aged γ-ray pulsar J1957+5033 in X-rays: Pulsations, thermal emission, and nebula

We analyse new XMM-Newton and archival Chandra observations of the middle-aged γ-ray radio-quiet pulsar J1957+5033. We detect, for the first time, X-ray pulsations with the pulsar spin period of the point-like source coinciding by position with the pulsar. This confirms the pulsar nature of the source. In the 0.15-0.5 keV band, there is a single pulse per period and the pulsed fraction is ≈18 ± 6 per cent. In this band, the pulsar spectrum is dominated by a thermal emission component that likely comes from the entire surface of the neutron star, while at higher energies (≥0.7 keV) it is described by a power law with the photon index Γ ≈ 1.6. We construct new hydrogen atmosphere models for neutron stars with dipole magnetic fields and non-uniform surface temperature distributions with relatively low effective temperatures. We use them in the spectral analysis and derive the pulsar average effective temperature of ≈(2-3) × 105 K. This makes J1957+5033 the coldest among all known thermally emitting neutron stars with ages below 1 Myr. Using the interstellar extinction-distance relation, we constrain the distance to the pulsar in the range of 0.1-1 kpc. We compare the obtained X-ray thermal luminosity with those for other neutron stars and various neutron star cooling models and set some constraints on the latter. We observe a faint trail-like feature, elongated ∼8 arcmin from J1957+5033. Its spectrum can be described by a power law with a photon index Γ = 1.9 ± 0.5 suggesting that it is likely a pulsar wind nebula powered by J1957+5033