CCOs and the hidden magnetic field scenario

CCOs are X-ray sources lying close the center of supernova remnants, with inferred values of the surface magnetic fields significantly lower (less than about 1e11 G) than those of standard pulsars. In this paper, we revise the hidden magnetic field scenario, presenting the first 2D simulations of the submergence and reemergence of the magnetic field in the crust of a neutron star. A post-supernova accretion stage of about 1e-4-1e-3 solar masses over a vast region of the surface is required to bury the magnetic field into the inner crust. When accretion stops, the field reemerges on a typical timescale of 1-100 kyr, depending on the submergence conditions. After this stage, the surface magnetic field is restored close to its birth values. A possible observable consequence of the hidden magnetic field is the anisotropy of the surface temperature distribution, in agreement with observations of several of these sources. We conclude that the hidden magnetic field model is viable as alternative to the anti-magnetar scenario, and it could provide the missing link between CCOs and the other classes of isolated neutron stars.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, MNRA

Magnetic fields in neutron stars

This work aims at studying how magnetic fields affect the observational properties and the long-term evolution of isolated neutron stars, which are the strongest magnets in the universe. The extreme physical conditions met inside these astronomical sources complicate their theoretical study, but, thanks to the increasing wealth of radio and X-ray data, great advances have been made over the last years. A neutron star is surrounded by magnetized plasma, the so-called magnetosphere. Modeling its global configuration is important to understand the observational properties of the most magnetized neutron stars, magnetars. On the other hand, magnetic fields in the interior are thought to evolve on long time-scales, from thousands to millions of years. The magnetic evolution is coupled to the thermal one, which has been the subject of study in the last decades. An important part of this thesis presents the state-of-the-art of the magneto-thermal evolution models of neutron stars during the first million of years, studied by means of detailed simulations. The numerical code here described is the first one to consistently consider the coupling of magnetic field and temperature, with the inclusion of both the Ohmic dissipation and the Hall drift in the crust.Comment: PhD thesis defended in University of Alicante, 20 September 201

Triggering magnetar outbursts in 3D force-free simulations

In this letter, we present the first 3D force-free general relativity simulations of the magnetosphere dynamics related to the magnetar outburst/flare phenomenology. Starting from an initial dipole configuration, we adiabatically increase the helicity by twisting the footprints of a spot on the stellar surface and follow the succession of quasi-equilibrium states until a critical twist is reached. Twisting beyond that point triggers instabilities that results in the rapid expansion of magnetic field lines, followed by reconnection, as observed in previous axi-symmetric simulations. If the injection of magnetic helicity goes on, the process is recurrent, periodically releasing a similar amount of energy, of the order of a few % of the total magnetic energy. From our current distribution, we estimate the local temperature assuming that dissipation occurs mainly in the highly resistive outermost layer of the neutron star. We find that the temperature smoothly increases with injected twist, being larger for spots located in the tropical regions than in polar regions, and rather independent of their sizes. After the injection of helicity ceases, the magnetosphere relaxes to a new stable state, in which the persistent currents maintain the footprints area slightly hotter than before the onset of the instability.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Spectral features in isolated neutron stars induced by inhomogeneous surface temperatures

The thermal X-ray spectra of several isolated neutron stars display deviations from a pure blackbody. The accurate physical interpretation of these spectral features bears profound implications for our understanding of the atmospheric composition, magnetic field strength and topology, and equation of state of dense matter. With specific details varying from source to source, common explanations for the features have ranged from atomic transitions in the magnetized atmospheres or condensed surface, to cyclotron lines generated in a hot ionized layer near the surface. Here we quantitatively evaluate the X-ray spectral distortions induced by inhomogeneous temperature distributions of the neutron star surface. To this aim, we explore several surface temperature distributions, we simulate their corresponding general relativistic X-ray spectra (assuming an isotropic, blackbody emission), and fit the latter with a single blackbody model. We find that, in some cases, the presence of a spurious 'spectral line' is required at a high significance level in order to obtain statistically acceptable fits, with central energy and equivalent width similar to the values typically observed. We also perform a fit to a specific object, RX J0806.4-4123, finding several surface temperature distributions able to model the observed spectrum. The explored effect is unlikely to work in all sources with detected lines, but in some cases it can indeed be responsible for the appearance of such lines. Our results enforce the idea that surface temperature anisotropy can be an important factor that should be considered and explored also in combination with more sophisticated emission models like atmospheres.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures; accepted for publication in MNRA

Population synthesis of isolated Neutron Stars with magneto--rotational evolution

We revisit the population synthesis of isolated radio-pulsars incorporating recent advances on the evolution of the magnetic field and the angle between the magnetic and rotational axes from new simulations of the magneto-thermal evolution and magnetosphere models, respectively. An interesting novelty in our approach is that we do not assume the existence of a death line. We discuss regions in parameter space that are more consistent with the observational data. In particular, we find that any broad distribution of birth spin periods with $P_0\lesssim 0.5$ s can fit the data, and that if the alignment angle is allowed to vary consistently with the torque model, realistic magnetospheric models are favoured compared to models with classical magneto-dipolar radiation losses. Assuming that the initial magnetic field is given by a lognormal distribution, our optimal model has mean strength $\langle\log B_0{\rm [G]}\rangle \approx 13.0-13.2$ with width $\sigma (\log B_0) = 0.6-0.7$. However, there are strong correlations between parameters. This degeneracy in the parameter space can be broken by an independent estimate of the pulsar birth rate or by future studies correlating this information with the population in other observational bands (X-rays and $\gamma$-rays).Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, submitted and accepted to MNRAS, comments welcom

Compact formulae, dynamics and radiation of charged particles under synchro-curvature losses

We consider the fundamental problem of charged particles moving along and around a curved magnetic field line, revising the synchro-curvature radiation formulae introduced by Cheng and Zhang (1996). We provide more compact expressions to evaluate the spectrum emitted by a single particle, identifying the key parameter that controls the transition between the curvature-dominated and the synchrotron-dominated regime. This parameter depends on the local radius of curvature of the magnetic field line, the gyration radius, and the pitch angle. We numerically solve the equations of motion for the emitting particle by considering self-consistently the radiative losses, and provide the radiated spectrum produced by a particle when an electric acceleration is balanced by its radiative losses, as it is assumed to happen in the outer gaps of pulsar's magnetospheres. We compute the average spectrum radiated throughout the particle trajectory finding that the slope of the spectrum before the peak depends on the location and size of the emission region. We show how this effect could then lead to a variety of synchro-curvature spectra. Our results reinforce the idea that the purely synchrotron or curvature losses are, in general, inadequate to describe the radiative reaction on the particle motion, and the spectrum of emitted photons. Finally, we discuss the applicability of these calculations to different astrophysical scenarios.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRAS main journal. References update