967 research outputs found
The nonlinear development of the relativistic two-stream instability
The two-stream instability has been mooted as an explanation for a range of
astrophysical applications from GRBs and pulsar glitches to cosmology. Using
the first nonlinear numerical simulations of relativistic multi-species
hydrodynamics we show that the onset and initial growth of the instability is
very well described by linear perturbation theory. In the later stages the
linear and nonlinear description match only qualitatively, and the instability
does not saturate even in the nonlinear case by purely ideal hydrodynamic
effects.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figure
Stationary structure of relativistic superfluid neutron stars
We describe recent progress in the numerical study of the structure of
rapidly rotating superfluid neutron star models in full general relativity. The
superfluid neutron star is described by a model of two interpenetrating and
interacting fluids, one representing the superfluid neutrons and the second
consisting of the remaining charged particles (protons, electrons, muons). We
consider general stationary configurations where the two fluids can have
different rotation rates around a common rotation axis. The previously
discovered existence of configurations with one fluid in a prolate shape is
confirmed.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. Conference proceedings for the 26th Spanish
Relativity Meeting (ERE 2002), Menorca, Spain, 22-24 Sept. 200
The dynamics of neutron star crusts: Lagrangian perturbation theory for a relativistic superfluid-elastic system
The inner crust of a mature neutron star is composed of an elastic lattice of
neutron-rich nuclei penetrated by free neutrons. These neutrons can flow
relative to the crust once the star cools below the superfluid transition
temperature. In order to model the dynamics of this system, which is relevant
for a range of problems from pulsar glitches to magnetar seismology and
continuous gravitational-wave emission from rotating deformed neutron stars, we
need to understand general relativistic Lagrangian perturbation theory for
elastic matter coupled to a superfluid component. This paper develops the
relevant formalism to the level required for astrophysical applications.Comment: 31 pages, double spacing, minor typos fixe
A Relativistic Mean Field Model for Entrainment in General Relativistic Superfluid Neutron Stars
General relativistic superfluid neutron stars have a significantly more
intricate dynamics than their ordinary fluid counterparts. Superfluidity allows
different superfluid (and superconducting) species of particles to have
independent fluid flows, a consequence of which is that the fluid equations of
motion contain as many fluid element velocities as superfluid species. Whenever
the particles of one superfluid interact with those of another, the momentum of
each superfluid will be a linear combination of both superfluid velocities.
This leads to the so-called entrainment effect whereby the motion of one
superfluid will induce a momentum in the other superfluid. We have constructed
a fully relativistic model for entrainment between superfluid neutrons and
superconducting protons using a relativistic mean field model
for the nucleons and their interactions. In this context there are two notions
of ``relativistic'': relativistic motion of the individual nucleons with
respect to a local region of the star (i.e. a fluid element containing, say, an
Avogadro's number of particles), and the motion of fluid elements with respect
to the rest of the star. While it is the case that the fluid elements will
typically maintain average speeds at a fraction of that of light, the
supranuclear densities in the core of a neutron star can make the nucleons
themselves have quite high average speeds within each fluid element. The
formalism is applied to the problem of slowly-rotating superfluid neutron star
configurations, a distinguishing characteristic being that the neutrons can
rotate at a rate different from that of the protons.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, submitted to PR
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