Three-dimensional analytical magnetohydrostatic equilibria of rigidly rotating magnetospheres in cylindrical geometry

We present three-dimensional solutions of the magnetohydrostatic equations in the co-rotating frame of reference outside a magnetized rigidly rotating cylinder. We make no symmetry assumption for the magnetic field, but to be able to make analytical progress we neglect outflows and specify a particular form for the current density. The magnetohydrostatic equations can then be reduced to a single linear partial differential equation for a pseudo-potential $U$, from which the magnetic field can be calculated by differentiation. The equation for $U$ can be solved by standard methods. The solutions can also be used to determine the plasma pressure, density and temperature as functions of all three spatial coordinates. Despite the obvious limitations of this approach, it can for example be used as a simple tool to create three-dimensional models for the closed field line regions of rotating magnetospheres without rotational symmetry.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication by Geophysical and Astrophysical Fluid Dynamic

Gravitational waves from single neutron stars: an advanced detector era survey

With the doors beginning to swing open on the new gravitational wave astronomy, this review provides an up-to-date survey of the most important physical mechanisms that could lead to emission of potentially detectable gravitational radiation from isolated and accreting neutron stars. In particular we discuss the gravitational wave-driven instability and asteroseismology formalism of the f- and r-modes, the different ways that a neutron star could form and sustain a non-axisymmetric quadrupolar "mountain" deformation, the excitation of oscillations during magnetar flares and the possible gravitational wave signature of pulsar glitches. We focus on progress made in the recent years in each topic, make a fresh assessment of the gravitational wave detectability of each mechanism and, finally, highlight key problems and desiderata for future work.Comment: 39 pages, 12 figures, 2 tables. Chapter of the book "Physics and Astrophysics of Neutron Stars", NewCompStar COST Action 1304. Minor corrections to match published versio