330 research outputs found

    Forced oscillations in a hydrodynamical accretion disk and QPOs

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    This is the second of a series of papers aimed to look for an explanation on the generation of high frequency quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) in accretion disks around neutron star, black hole, and white dwarf binaries. The model is inspired by the general idea of a resonance mechanism in the accretion disk oscillations as was already pointed out by Abramowicz & Klu{\'z}niak (\cite{Abramowicz2001}). In a first paper (P\'etri \cite{Petri2005a}, paper I), we showed that a rotating misaligned magnetic field of a neutron star gives rise to some resonances close to the inner edge of the accretion disk. In this second paper, we suggest that this process does also exist for an asymmetry in the gravitational potential of the compact object. We prove that the same physics applies, at least in the linear stage of the response to the disturbance in the system. This kind of asymmetry is well suited for neutron stars or white dwarfs possessing an inhomogeneous interior allowing for a deviation from a perfectly spherically symmetric gravitational field. We show by a linear analysis that the disk initially in a cylindrically symmetric stationary state is subject to three kinds of resonances: a corotation resonance, a Lindblad resonance due to a driven force and a parametric sonance. The highest kHz QPOs are then interpreted as the orbital frequency of the disk at locations where the response to the resonances are maximal. It is also found that strong gravity is not required to excite the resonances.Comment: Accepte

    Accretion, Outflows, and Winds of Magnetized Stars

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    Many types of stars have strong magnetic fields that can dynamically influence the flow of circumstellar matter. In stars with accretion disks, the stellar magnetic field can truncate the inner disk and determine the paths that matter can take to flow onto the star. These paths are different in stars with different magnetospheres and periods of rotation. External field lines of the magnetosphere may inflate and produce favorable conditions for outflows from the disk-magnetosphere boundary. Outflows can be particularly strong in the propeller regime, wherein a star rotates more rapidly than the inner disk. Outflows may also form at the disk-magnetosphere boundary of slowly rotating stars, if the magnetosphere is compressed by the accreting matter. In isolated, strongly magnetized stars, the magnetic field can influence formation and/or propagation of stellar wind outflows. Winds from low-mass, solar-type stars may be either thermally or magnetically driven, while winds from massive, luminous O and B type stars are radiatively driven. In all of these cases, the magnetic field influences matter flow from the stars and determines many observational properties. In this chapter we review recent studies of accretion, outflows, and winds of magnetized stars with a focus on three main topics: (1) accretion onto magnetized stars; (2) outflows from the disk-magnetosphere boundary; and (3) winds from isolated massive magnetized stars. We show results obtained from global magnetohydrodynamic simulations and, in a number of cases compare global simulations with observations.Comment: 60 pages, 44 figure

    The distribution of radioactive 44Ti in Cassiopeia A

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    The distribution of elements produced in the innermost layers of a supernova explosion is a key diagnostic for studying the collapse of massive stars. Here we present the results of a 2.4 Ms NuSTAR observing campaign aimed at studying the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A). We perform spatially resolved spectroscopic analyses of the 44Ti ejecta, which we use to determine the Doppler shift and thus the three-dimensional (3D) velocities of the 44Ti ejecta. We find an initial 44Ti mass of (1.54 ± 0.21) × 10−4 M⊙, which has a present-day average momentum direction of 340° ± 15° projected onto the plane of the sky (measured clockwise from celestial north) and is tilted by 58° ± 20° into the plane of the sky away from the observer, roughly opposite to the inferred direction of motion of the central compact object. We find some 44Ti ejecta that are clearly interior to the reverse shock and some that are clearly exterior to it. Where we observe 44Ti ejecta exterior to the reverse shock we also see shock-heated iron; however, there are regions where we see iron but do not observe 44Ti. This suggests that the local conditions of the supernova shock during explosive nucleosynthesis varied enough to suppress the production of 44Ti by at least a factor of two in some regions, even in regions that are assumed to be the result of processes like α-rich freezeout that should produce both iron and titanium
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