10,261 research outputs found
PSR 0943+10: a bare strange star?
Recent work by Rankin & Deshpande strongly suggests that there exist strong
``micro-storms'' rotating around the magnetic axis of the 1.1s pulsar PSR
0943+10. Such a feature hints that most probably the large-voltage vacuum gap
proposed by Ruderman & Sutherland (RS) does exist in the pulsar polar cap.
However, there are severe arguments against the formation of the RS-type gap in
pulsars, since the binding energies of both the Fe ions and the electrons in a
neutron star's surface layer is too small to prevent thermionic ejection of the
particles from the surface. Here we propose that PSR 0943+10 (probably also
most of the other ``drifting'' pulsars) might be bare strange stars rather than
normal neutron stars, in which the ``binding energy'' at the surface is merely
infinity either for the case of ``pulsar'' or ``anti-pulsar''. It is further
proposed that identifying a drifting pulsar as an anti-pulsar is the key
criterion to distinguish strange stars from neutron stars.Comment: 4 pages, no figures, LaTeX, accepted 1999 July 9 by ApJ Letter
Interaction between a fast rotating sunspot and ephemeral regions as the origin of the major solar event on 2006 December 13
The major solar event on 2006 December 13 is characterized by the
approximately simultaneous occurrence of a heap of hot ejecta, a great
two-ribbon flare and an extended Earth-directed coronal mass ejection. We
examine the magnetic field and sunspot evolution in active region NOAA AR
10930, the source region of the event, while it transited the solar disk centre
from Dec. 10 to Dec. 13. We find that the obvious changes in the active region
associated with the event are the development of magnetic shear, the appearance
of ephemeral regions and fast rotation of a smaller sunspot. Around the area of
the magnetic neutral line of the active region, interaction between the fast
rotating sunspot and the ephemeral regions triggers continual brightening and
finally the major flare. It is indicative that only after the sunspot rotates
up to 200 does the major event take place. The sunspot rotates at
least 240 about its centre, the largest sunspot rotation angle which
has been reported.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, ApJ Letters inpres
Nature and Nurture: a model for soft gamma-ray repeaters
During supernova explosions, strange stars with almost bare quark surfaces
may be formed. Under certain conditions, these stars could be rapidly spun down
by the torque exerted by the fossil disks formed from the fall-back materials.
They may also receive large kicks and hence, have large proper motion
velocities. When these strange stars pass through the spherical ``Oort'' comet
cloud formed during the pre-supernova era, they will capture some small-scale
comet clouds and collide with some comet-like objects occasionally. These
impacts can account for the repeating bursts as observed from the soft gamma
repeaters (SGRs). According to this picture, it is expected that SGR 1900+14
will become active again during 2004-2005.Comment: emulateapj, 5 pages, accepted by ApJ Letter
Magnetodielectric effect of Bi6Fe2Ti3O18 film under an ultra-low magnetic field
Good quality and fine grain Bi6Fe2Ti3O18 magnetic ferroelectric films with
single-phase layered perovskite structure have been successfully prepared via
metal organic decomposition (MOD) method. Results of low-temperature
magnetocapacitance measurements reveal that an ultra-low magnetic field of 10
Oe can produce a nontrivial magnetodielectric (MD) response in
zero-field-cooling condition, and the relative variation of dielectric
constants in magnetic field is positive, i.e., MD=0.05, when T<55K, but
negative with a maximum of MD=-0.14 when 55K<T<190K. The magnetodielectric
effect appears a sign change at 55K, which is due to transition from
antiferromagnetic to weak ferromagnetic; and vanishes abruptly around 190K,
which is thought to be associated with order-disorder transition of iron ion at
B site of perovskite structures. The ultra-low-field magnetodielectric
behaviour of Bi6Fe2Ti3O18 film has been discussed in the light of
quasi-two-dimension unique nature of local spin order in ferroelectric film.
Our results allow expectation on low-cost applications of detectors and
switches for extremely weak magnetic fields in a wide temperature range
55K-190K.Comment: 10 pages 4 figures, planned to submit to J. Phys.: Condensed Matte
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