187 research outputs found
Does mass accretion lead to field decay in neutron stars
The recent discovery of cyclotron lines from gamma-ray bursts indicates that the strong magnetic fields of isolated neutron stars might not decay. The possible inverse correlation between the strength of the magnetic field and the mass accreted by the neutron star suggests that mass accretion itself may lead to the decay of the magnetic field. The spin and magnetic field evolution of the neutron star was calculated under the hypothesis of the accretion-induced field decay. It is shown that the calculated results are consistent with the observations of binary and millisecond radio pulsars
Quasiperiodic oscillations in bright galactic-bulge X-ray sources
Quasiperiodic oscillations with frequencies in the range 5-50 Hz have recently been discovered in X-rays from two bright galactic-bulge sources and Sco X-1. These sources are weakly magnetic neutron stars accreting from disks which the plasma is clumped. The interaction of the magnetosphere with clumps in the inner disk causes oscillations in the X-ray flux with many of the properties observed
Correlation between X-ray flux and rotational acceleration in Vela X-1
The results of a search for correlations between X-ray flux and angular acceleration for the accreting binary pulsar Vela X-1 are presented. Results are based on data obtained with the Hakucho satellite during the interval 1982 to 1984. In undertaking this correlation analysis, it was necessary to modify the usual statistical method to deal with conditions imposed by generally unavoidable satellite observing constraints, most notably a mismatch in sampling between the two variables. The results are suggestive of a correlation between flux and the absolute value of the angular acceleration, at a significance level of 96 percent. The implications of the methods and results for future observations and analysis are discussed
Two-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamic model for limit-cycle oscillations of luminous accretion disks
We investigate the time evolution of luminous accretion disks around black
holes, conducting the two-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamic simulations. We
adopt the alpha prescription for the viscosity. The radial-azimuthal component
of viscous stress tensor is assumed to be proportional to the total pressure in
the optically thick region, while the gas pressure in the optically thin
regime. The viscosity parameter, alpha, is taken to be 0.1. We find the
limit-cycle variation in luminosity between high and low states. When we set
the mass input rate from the outer disk boundary to be 100 L_E/c^2, the
luminosity suddenly rises from 0.3L_E to 2L_E, where L_E is the Eddington
luminosity. It decays after retaining high value for about 40 s. Our numerical
results can explain the variation amplitude and duration of the recurrent
outbursts observed in microquasar, GRS 1915+105. We show that the
multi-dimensional effects play an important role in the high-luminosity state.
In this state, the outflow is driven by the strong radiation force, and some
part of radiation energy dissipated inside the disk is swallowed by the black
hole due to the photon-trapping effects. This trapped luminosity is comparable
to the disk luminosity. We also calculate two more cases: one with a much
larger accretion rate than the critical value for the instability and the other
with the viscous stress tensor being proportional to the gas pressure only even
when the radiation pressure is dominant. We find no quasi-periodic light
variations in these cases. This confirms that the limit-cycle behavior found in
the simulations is caused by the disk instability.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ (ApJ 01 April
2006, v640, 2 issue
X-Ray and Gamma-Ray Emission from the PSR 1259-63 / Be Star System
PSR 1259-63 is a radio pulsar orbiting a Be star in a highly eccentric orbit.
Soft and hard X-rays are observed from this binary system. We apply the shock
powered emission model to this system. The collision of the pulsar and Be star
winds forms a shock, which accelerates electrons and positrons to the
relativistic energies. We derive the energy distribution of relativistic
electrons and positrons as a function of the distance from the shock in the
pulsar nebula. We calculate the X-rays and -rays emitted from the
relativistic electrons and positrons in the nebula at various orbital phases,
taking into account the Klein-Nishina effect fully. The shock powered emission
model can explain the observed X-ray properties approximately. We obtain from
the comparison with observations that a fraction of of the pulsar
spin-down luminosity should be transformed into the relativistic electrons and
positrons. We find that the magnetization parameter of the pulsar wind, the
ratio of the Poynting flux to the kinetic energy flux, is
immediately upstream of the termination shock of the pulsar wind, and may
decrease with distance from the pulsar. We predict the flux of 10 MeV - 100 GeV
-rays which may be nearly equal to the detection threshold in the
future projects.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in PAS
Clinical efficacy of azole therapy for Trichosporon fungemia in patients with acute leukeima
Superfluid Friction and Late-time Thermal Evolution of Neutron Stars
The recent temperature measurements of the two older isolated neutron stars
PSR 1929+10 and PSR 0950+08 (ages of and yr,
respectively) indicate that these objects are heated. A promising candidate
heat source is friction between the neutron star crust and the superfluid it is
thought to contain. We study the effects of superfluid friction on the
long-term thermal and rotational evolution of a neutron star. Differential
rotation velocities between the superfluid and the crust (averaged over the
inner crust moment of inertia) of rad s for PSR
1929+10 and rad s for PSR 0950+08 would account for their
observed temperatures. These differential velocities could be sustained by
pinning of superfluid vortices to the inner crust lattice with strengths of
1 MeV per nucleus. Pinned vortices can creep outward through thermal
fluctuations or quantum tunneling. For thermally-activated creep, the coupling
between the superfluid and crust is highly sensitive to temperature. If pinning
maintains large differential rotation ( rad s), a feedback
instability could occur in stars younger than yr causing
oscillations of the temperature and spin-down rate over a period of . For stars older than yr, however, vortex creep occurs
through quantum tunneling, and the creep velocity is too insensitive to
temperature for a thermal-rotational instability to occur. These older stars
could be heated through a steady process of superfluid friction.Comment: 26 pages, 1 figure, submitted to Ap
Subaru optical observations of the old pulsar PSR B0950+08
We report the B band optical observations of an old (17.5 Myr) radiopulsar
PSR B0950+08 obtained with the Suprime-Cam at the Subaru telescope. We detected
a faint object, B=27.07(16). Within our astrometrical accuracy it coincides
with the radio position of the pulsar and with the object detected earlier by
Pavlov et al. (1996) in UV with the HST/FOC/F130LP. The positional coincidence
and spectral properties of the object suggest that it is the optical
counterpart of PSR B0950+08. Its flux in the B band is two times higher than
one would expect from the suggested earlier Rayleigh-Jeans interpretation of
the only available HST observations in the adjacent F130LP band. Based on the B
and F130LP photometry of the suggested counterpart and on the available X-ray
data we argue in favour of nonthermal origin of the broad-band optical spectrum
of PSR B0950+08, as it is observed for the optical emission of the younger,
middle-aged pulsars PSR B0656+14 and Geminga. At the same time, the optical
efficiency of PSR B0950+08, estimated from its spin-down power and the detected
optical flux, is by several orders of magnitude higher than for these pulsars,
and comparable with that for the much younger and more energetic Crab pulsar.
We cannot exclude the presence of a compact, about 1'', faint pulsar nebula
around PSR B0950+08, elongated perpendicular to the vector of its proper
motion, unless it is not a projection of a faint extended object on the pulsar
position.Comment: 8 pages, LaTeX, aa.cls style, 5 PS figures, submitted to A&A. Image
is available in FITS format at
http://www.ioffe.rssi.ru/astro/NSG/obs/0950-subar
Magnetars as cooling neutron stars with internal heating
We study thermal structure and evolution of magnetars as cooling neutron
stars with a phenomenological heat source in a spherical internal layer. We
explore the location of this layer as well as the heating rate that could
explain high observable thermal luminosities of magnetars and would be
consistent with the energy budget of neutron stars. We conclude that the heat
source should be located in an outer magnetar's crust, at densities rho < 5e11
g/cm^3, and should have the heat intensity of the order of 1e20 erg/s/cm^3.
Otherwise the heat energy is mainly emitted by neutrinos and cannot warm up the
surface.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, submitted to MNRA
Suzaku Observation of AXP 1E 1841-045 in SNR Kes 73
Anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs) are thought to be magnetars, which are neutron
stars with ultra strong magnetic field of -- G. Their energy
spectra below 10 keV are modeled well by two components consisting of a
blackbody (BB) (0.4 keV) and rather steep power-law (POW) function
(photon index 2-4). Kuiper et al.(2004) discovered hard X-ray component
above 10 keV from some AXPs. Here, we present the Suzaku observation of
the AXP 1E 1841-045 at the center of supernova remnant Kes 73. By this
observation, we could analyze the spectrum from 0.4 to 50 keV at the same time.
Then, we could test whether the spectral model above was valid or not in this
wide energy range. We found that there were residual in the spectral fits when
fit by the model of BB + POW. Fits were improved by adding another BB or POW
component. But the meaning of each component became ambiguous in the
phase-resolved spectroscopy. Alternatively we found that NPEX model fit well
for both phase-averaged spectrum and phase-resolved spectra. In this case, the
photon indices were constant during all phase, and spectral variation seemed to
be very clear. This fact suggests somewhat fundamental meaning for the emission
from magnetars.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of the "40 Years of Pulsars: Millisecond
Pulsars, Magnetars and More" conference, held 12-17 August 2007, in Montreal
QC (AIP, in press, eds: C. Bassa, Z. Wang, A. Cumming, V. Kaspi
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