1,677 research outputs found
Three Disk Oscillation Modes of Rotating Magnetized Neutron Stars
We discuss three specific modes of accretion disks around rotating magnetized
neutron stars which may explain the separations of the kilo Hertz quasi
periodic oscillations (QPO) seen in low mass X-ray binaries. The existence of
these modes requires that there be a maximum in the angular velocity of the
accreting material, and that the fluid is in stable, nearly circular motion
near this maximum rather than moving rapidly towards the star or out of the
disk plane into funnel flows. It is presently not known if these conditions
occur, but we are exploring this with 3D magnetohydrodynamic simulations and
will report the results elsewhere. The first mode is a corotation mode which is
radially trapped in the vicinity of the maximum of the disk rotation rate and
is unstable. The second mode, relevant to relatively slowly rotating stars, is
a magnetically driven eccentric () oscillation of the disk excited at a
Lindblad radius in the vicinity of the maximum of the disk rotation. The third
mode, relevant to rapidly rotating stars, is a magnetically coupled eccentric
() and an axisymmetric () radial disk perturbation which has an inner
Lindblad radius also in the vicinity of the maximum of the disk rotation. We
suggest that the first mode is associated with the upper QPO frequency,
, the second with the lower QPO frequency, , and
the third with the lower QPO frequency, , where
is the star's rotation rate.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure
Nonlethality and American Land Power: Strategic Context and Operational Concepts
Nonlethal technology, concepts and doctrine may provide the Army a way to retain its political utility and military effectiveness in a security environment characterized by ambiguity and the glare of world public opinion. To explore this, the Army is undertaking programs and initiatives which may make it the driving force in nonlethality. The authors place nonlethality within its larger strategic context and explain how it is related to the revolution in military affairs. They then assess the arguments for and against the integration of nonlethality into American doctrine and procedures. Finally, they offer operational concepts which could serve as the basis for doctrine and for tactics, techniques, and procedures.https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1856/thumbnail.jp
Locking of the Rotation of Disk-Accreting Magnetized Stars
We investigate the rotational equilibrium state of a disk accreting
magnetized stars using axisymmetric magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations. In
this ``locked'' state, the spin-up torque balances the spin-down torque so that
the net average torque on the star is zero. We investigated two types of
initial conditions, one with a relatively weak stellar magnetic field and a
high coronal density, and the other with a stronger stellar field and a lower
coronal density. We observed that for both initial conditions the rotation of
the star is locked to the rotation of the disk. In the second case, the radial
field lines carry significant angular momentum out of the star. However, this
did not appreciably change the condition for locking of the rotation of the
star. We find that in the equilibrium state the corotation radius is
related to the magnetospheric radius as for
case (1) and for case (2). We estimated periods of
rotation in the equilibrium state for classical T Tauri stars, dwarf novae and
X-ray millisecond pulsars.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures. Accepted by ApJ, will appear in vol. 634, 2005
December
Time Gauge Fixing and Hilbert Space in Quantum String Cosmology
Recently the low-energy effective string theory has been used by Gasperini
and Veneziano to elaborate a very interesting scenario for the early history of
the universe (``birth of the universe as quantum scattering''). Here we
investigate the gauge fixing and the problem of the definition of a global time
parameter for this model, and we obtain the positive norm Hilbert space of
states.Comment: 13 pages, Plain TEX, no figure
Gamma-ray Flares and VLBI Outbursts of Blazars
A model is developed for the time dependent electromagnetic - radio to
gamma-ray - emission of active galactic nuclei, specifically, the blazars,
based on the acceleration and creation of leptons at a propagating
discontinuity or {\it front} of a Poynting flux jet. The front corresponds to a
discrete relativistic jet component as observed with
very-long-baseline-interferometry (VLBI). Equations are derived for the number,
momentum, and energy of particles in the front taking into account synchrotron,
synchrotron-self-Compton (SSC), and inverse-Compton processes as well as
photon-photon pair production. The apparent synchrotron, SSC, and
inverse-Compton luminosities as functions of time are determined. Predictions
of the model are compared with observations in the gamma, optical and radio
bands. The delay between the high-energy gamma-ray flare and the onset of the
radio is explained by self-absorption and/or free-free absorption by external
plasma. Two types of gamma-ray flares are predicted depending on pair creation
in the front.Comment: 11 pages, submitted to ApJ. 10 figures can be obtained from R.
Lovelace by sending postal address to [email protected]
"Propeller" Regime of Disk Accretion to Rapidly Rotating Stars
We present results of axisymmetic magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the
interaction of a rapidly-rotating, magnetized star with an accretion disk. The
disk is considered to have a finite viscosity and magnetic diffusivity. The
main parameters of the system are the star's angular velocity and magnetic
moment, and the disk's viscosity, diffusivity. We focus on the "propeller"
regime where the inner radius of the disk is larger than the corotation radius.
Two types of magnetohydrodynamic flows have been found as a result of
simulations: "weak" and "strong" propellers. The strong propeller is
characterized by a powerful disk wind and a collimated magnetically dominated
outflow or jet from the star. The weak propeller have only weak outflows. We
investigated the time-averaged characteristics of the interaction between the
main elements of the system, the star, the disk, the wind from the disk, and
the jet. Rates of exchange of mass and angular momentum between the elements of
the system are derived as a function of the main parameters. The propeller
mechanism may be responsible for the fast spinning-down of the classical T
Tauri stars in the initial stages of their evolution, and for the spinning-down
of accreting millisecond pulsars.Comment: 18 pages, 16 figures, ApJ (accepted), added references, corrected
typos; see animation at
http://astrosun2.astro.cornell.edu/us-rus/disk_prop.ht
Gravitational waves from intermediate-mass-ratio inspirals for ground-based detectors
We explore the prospects for Advanced LIGO to detect gravitational waves from
neutron stars and stellar mass black holes spiraling into intermediate-mass
( to ) black holes. We estimate an event rate
for such \emph{intermediate-mass-ratio inspirals} (IMRIs) of up to --. Our numerical simulations show that if the central
body is not a black hole but its metric is stationary, axisymmetric, reflection
symmetric and asymptotically flat then the waves will likely be tri-periodic,
as for a black hole. We report generalizations of a theorem due to Ryan (1995)
which suggest that the evolutions of the waves' three fundamental frequencies
and of the complex amplitudes of their spectral components encode (in
principle) a full map of the central body's metric, full details of the energy
and angular momentum exchange between the central body and the orbit, and the
time-evolving orbital elements. We estimate that Advanced LIGO can measure or
constrain deviations of the central body from a Kerr black hole with modest but
interesting accuracy.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter
Tidal coupling of a Schwarzschild black hole and circularly orbiting moon
We describe the possibility of using LISA's gravitational-wave observations
to study, with high precision, the response of a massive central body to the
tidal gravitational pull of an orbiting, compact, small-mass object. Motivated
by this application, we use first-order perturbation theory to study tidal
coupling for an idealized case: a massive Schwarzschild black hole, tidally
perturbed by a much less massive moon in a distant, circular orbit. We
investigate the details of how the tidal deformation of the hole gives rise to
an induced quadrupole moment in the hole's external gravitational field at
large radii. In the limit that the moon is static, we find, in Schwarzschild
coordinates and Regge-Wheeler gauge, the surprising result that there is no
induced quadrupole moment. We show that this conclusion is gauge dependent and
that the static, induced quadrupole moment for a black hole is inherently
ambiguous. For the orbiting moon and the central Schwarzschild hole, we find
(in agreement with a recent result of Poisson) a time-varying induced
quadrupole moment that is proportional to the time derivative of the moon's
tidal field. As a partial analog of a result derived long ago by Hartle for a
spinning hole and a stationary distant companion, we show that the orbiting
moon's tidal field induces a tidal bulge on the hole's horizon, and that the
rate of change of the horizon shape leads the perturbing tidal field at the
horizon by a small angle.Comment: 14 pages, 0 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
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