Magnetars and the Chiral Plasma Instabilities

Akira Ohnishi; Naoki Yamamoto

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arXiv · 1402.4760

Magnetars and the Chiral Plasma Instabilities

Akira Ohnishi·Naoki Yamamoto

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Abstract

We propose a possible new mechanism for a strong and stable magnetic field of compact stars due to an instability in the presence of a chirality imbalance of electrons---the chiral plasma instability. A large chirality imbalance of electrons inevitably occurs associated with the parity-violating weak process during core collapse of supernovae. We estimate the maximal magnetic field due to this instability to be of order 10^{18} G at the core. This mechanism naturally generates a large magnetic helicity from the chiral asymmetry, which ensures the stability of the large magnetic field.

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Akira Ohnishi, Naoki Yamamoto. 2014-02-19. Magnetars and the Chiral Plasma Instabilities. https://arxiv.org/abs/1402.4760

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