arXiv subjects

Donald Lynden-Bell

Publications and source records attributed to Donald Lynden-Bell.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2018

Coupled axisymmetric pulsar magnetospheres

We present solutions of force-free pulsar magnetospheres coupled with a uniform external magnetic field aligned with the dipole magnetic moment of the pulsar. The inclusion of the uniform magnetic field has the following consequences: The equatorial current sheet is truncated to a finite length, the fraction of field lines that are open increases, and the open field lines are confined within a cylindrical surface instead of becoming radial. A strong external magnetic field antiparallel to the dipole allows for solutions where the pulsar magnetic field is fully enclosed within an ellipsoidal surface. Configurations of fully enclosed or confined magnetospheres may appear in a double neutron star (DNS) where one of the components is a slowly rotating, strongly magnetised pulsar and the other a weakly magnetised millisecond pulsar. Depending on the geometry, twisted field lines from the millisecond pulsar could form an asymmetric wind. More dramatic consequences could appear closer to merger: there, the neutron star with the weaker magnetic field may undergo a stage where it alternates between an open and a fully enclosed magnetosphere releasing up $10^{38}$erg. Under favourable combinations of magnetic fields DNSs can spend up to 10$^3$ yr in the coupled phase, implying a Galactic population of $0.02$ systems. Potential observational signatures of this interaction are discussed including the possibility of powering recurring Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs). We also note that the magnetic interaction cannot have any significant effect on the spin evolution of the two pulsars.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2017

Rotation of inertial frames by angular momentum of matter and waves

We elucidate the dynamics of a thin spherical material shell with a tangential pressure, using a new approach. This is both simpler than the traditional method of extrinsic curvature junction conditions (which we also employ), and suggests an expression for a `gravitational potential energy' of the shell. Such a shell, if slowly spinning, can rotationally drag the inertial frames within it through a finite angle as it collapses and rebounds from a minimum radius. Rebounding `spherical' and cylindrical pulses of rotating gravitational waves were studied previously. Here we calculate their angular momentum and show that their rotational frame dragging is in agreement with that of the rotating spherical shell and a rotating cylindrical dust shell. This shows that Machian effects occur equally for material and analogous `immaterial' sources.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2016

Pressure in Lemaître-Tolman-Bondi solutions and cosmologies

Lemaître-Tolman-Bondi (LTB) solutions have traditionally been confined to systems with no pressure in which the gravity is due to massive dust, but the solutions are little changed in form if, as in cosmology, the pressure is uniform in space at each comoving time. This allows the equations of cosmology to be deduced in a manner that more closely resembles classical mechanics. It also gives some inhomogeneous solutions with growing condensations and black holes. We give criteria by which the sizes of different closed models of the universe can be compared and discuss conditions for self-closure of inhomogeneous cosmologies with a $Λ$-term.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2013

Thought Experiments on Gravitational Forces

Large contributions to the near closure of the Universe and to the acceleration of its expansion are due to the gravitation of components of the stress-energy tensor other than its mass density. To familiarise astronomers with the gravitation of these components we conduct thought experiments on gravity, analogous to the real experiments that our forebears conducted on electricity. By analogy to the forces due to electric currents we investigate the gravitational forces due to the flows of momentum, angular momentum, and energy along a cylinder. Under tension the gravity of the cylinder decreases but the 'closure' of the 3-space around it increases. When the cylinder carries a torque the flow of angular momentum along it leads to a novel helical interpretation of Levi-Civita's external metric and a novel relativistic effect. Energy currents give gravomagnetic effects in which parallel currents repel and antiparallel currents attract, though such effects must be added to those of static gravity. The gravity of beams of light give striking illustrations of these effects and a re-derivation of light bending via the gravity of the light itself. Faraday's experiments lead us to discuss lines of force of both gravomagnetic and gravity fields. A serious conundrum arrises if Landau and Lifshitz's definition of Gravitational force is adopted.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2012

Toroidal metrics: gravitational solenoids and static shells

In electromagnetism a current along a wire tightly wound on a torus makes a solenoid whose magnetic field is confined within the torus. In Einstein's gravity we give a corresponding solution in which a current of matter moves up on the inside of a toroidal shell and down on the outside, rolling around the torus by the short way. The metric is static outside the torus but stationary inside with the gravomagnetic field confined inside the torus, running around it by the long way. This exact solution of Einstein's equations is found by fitting Bonnor's solution for the metric of a light beam, which gives the required toroidal gravomagnetic field inside the torus, to the general Weyl static external metric in toroidal coordinates, which we develop. We deduce the matter tensor on the torus and find when it obeys the energy conditions. We also give the equipotential shells that generate the simple Bach-Weyl metric externally and find which shells obey the energy conditions.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2011

Allan R. Sandage, 18 June 1926 - 13 November 2010

Allan Sandage was an observational astronomer who was happiest at a telescope. On Hubble's sudden death Allan Sandage inherited the programmes using the world's largest optical telescope at Palomar to determine the distances and number counts of galaxies. Over many years he greatly revised the distance scale and, on re-working Hubble's analysis, discovered the error that had led Hubble to doubt the interpretation of the galaxies' redshifts as an expansion of the universe. Sandage showed that there was a consistent age of Creation for the stars, the elements, and the Cosmos. Through work with Baade and Schwarzschild he discovered the key to the interpretation of the colour-magnitude diagrams of star clusters in terms of stellar evolution. With others he founded Galactic Archaeology, interpreting the motions and elemental abundances of the oldest stars in terms of a model for the Galaxy's formation. He published several fine atlasses and catalogues of galaxies and a definitive history of the Mount Wilson Observatory.

physics.hist-ph↗

arXiv2011

Centrifugal force induced by relativistically rotating spheroids and cylinders

Starting from the gravitational potential of a Newtonian spheroidal shell we discuss electrically charged rotating prolate spheroidal shells in the Maxwell theory. In particular we consider two confocal charged shells which rotate oppositely in such a way that there is no magnetic field outside the outer shell. In the Einstein theory we solve the Ernst equations in the region where the long prolate spheroids are almost cylindrical; in equatorial regions the exact Lewis "rotating cylindrical" solution is so derived by a limiting procedure from a spatially bound system. In the second part we analyze two cylindrical shells rotating in opposite directions in such a way that the static Levi-Civita metric is produced outside and no angular momentum flux escapes to infinity. The rotation of the local inertial frames in flat space inside the inner cylinder is thus exhibited without any approximation or interpretational difficulties within this model. A test particle within the inner cylinder kept at rest with respect to axes that do not rotate as seen from infinity experiences a centrifugal force. Although the spacetime there is Minkowskian out to the inner cylinder nevertheless that space has been induced to rotate, so relative to the local inertial frame the particle is traversing a circular orbit.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2008

Inertial frame rotation induced by rotating gravitational waves

We calculate the rotation of the inertial frames within an almost flat cylindrical region surrounded by a pulse of non-axially-symmetric gravitational waves that rotate about the axis of our cylindrical polar coordinates. Our spacetime has only one Killing vector. It is along the z-axis and hypersurface orthogonal. We solve the Einstein equations to first order in the wave amplitude and superpose such linearized solutions to form a wave pulse. We then solve the relevant Einstein equation to second order in the amplitude to find the rotation of inertial frames produced by the pulse. The rotation is without time delay. The influence of gravitational wave angular momentum on the inertial frame demonstrates that Mach's principle can not be expressed in terms of the influence of the stress-energy-momentum tensor alone but must involve also influences of gravitational wave energy and angular momentum.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2008

Gravitational waves and dragging effects

Linear and rotational dragging effects of gravitational waves on local inertial frames are studied in purely vacuum spacetimes. First the linear dragging caused by a simple cylindrical pulse is investigated. Surprisingly strong transversal effects of the pulse are exhibited. The angular momentum in cylindrically symmetric spacetimes is then defined and confronted with some results in literature. In the main part, the general procedure is developed for studying weak gravitational waves with translational but not axial symmetry which can carry angular momentum. After a suitable averaging the rotation of local inertial frames due to such rotating waves can be calculated explicitly and illustrated graphically. This is done in detail in the accompanying paper. Finally, the rotational dragging is given for strong cylindrical waves interacting with a rotating cosmic string with a small angular momentum.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2008

Analytic Central Orbits and their Transformation Group

A useful crude approximation for Abelian functions is developed and applied to orbits. The bound orbits in the power-law potentials A*r^{-alpha} take the simple form (l/r)^k = 1 + e cos(m*phi), where k = 2 - alpha > 0 and 'l' and 'e' are generalisations of the semi-latus-rectum and the eccentricity. 'm' is given as a function of 'eccentricity'. For nearly circular orbits 'm' is sqrt{k}, while the above orbit becomes exact at the energy of escape where 'e' is one and 'm' is 'k'. Orbits in the logarithmic potential that gives rise to a constant circular velocity are derived via the limit of small alpha. For such orbits, r^2 vibrates almost harmonically whatever the 'eccentricity'. Unbound orbits in power-law potentials are given in an appendix. The transformation of orbits in one potential to give orbits in a different potential is used to determine orbits in potentials that are positive powers of r. These transformations are extended to form a group which associates orbits in sets of six potentials, e.g. there are corresponding orbits in the potentials proportional to r, r^{-2/3}, r^{-3}, r^{-6}, r^{4/3} and r^{-4}. A degeneracy reduces this to three, which are r^{-1}, r^2 and r^{-4} for the Keplerian case. A generalisation of this group includes the isochrone with the Kepler set.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2008

Cosmological perturbation theory, instantaneous gauges and local inertial frames

Linear perturbations of Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universes with any curvature and cosmological constant are studied in a general gauge without decomposition into harmonics. Desirable gauges are selected as those which embody best Mach's principle: in these gauges local inertial frames can be determined instantaneously via the perturbed Einstein field equations from the distributions of energy and momentum in the universe. The inertial frames are identified by their `accelerations and rotations' with respect to the cosmological frames associated with the `Machian gauges'. In closed spherical universes, integral gauge conditions are imposed to eliminate motions generated by the conformal Killing vectors. The meaning of Traschen's integral constraint vectors is thus elucidated. For all three types of FRW universes the Machian gauges admit much less residual freedom than the synchronous or generalized harmonic gauge. Mach's principle is best exhibited in the Machian gauges in closed spherical universes. Independent of any Machian motivation the general perturbation equations and discussion of gauges are useful for cosmological perturbation theory.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2007

Geometrodynamical Distances to the Galaxy's Hydrogen Streams

We present a geometrodynamical method for determining distances to orbital streams of HI gas in the Galaxy. The method makes use of our offset from the Galactic centre and assumes that the gas comprising the stream nearly follows a planar orbit about the Galactic centre. We apply this technique to the Magellanic Stream and determine the distances to all points along it; a consistency check shows that the angular momentum is approximately constant. Applying this technique to the Large Magellanic Cloud itself gives an independent distance which agrees within its accuracy of around 10%. Relaxing the demand for exact conservation of energy and angular momentum at all points along the stream allows for an increase in orbital period between the lagging end and the front end led by the Magellanic Clouds. Similar methods are applicable to other long streams of high-velocity clouds, provided they also nearly follow planar orbits; these would allow otherwise unknown distances to be determined.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2007

Simplified Variational Principles for Barotropic Magnetohydrodynamics

Variational principles for magnetohydrodynamics were introduced by previous authors both in Lagrangian and Eulerian form. In this paper we introduce simpler Eulerian variational principles from which all the relevant equations of barotropic magnetohydrodynamics can be derived. The variational principle is given in terms of six independent functions for non-stationary barotropic flows and three independent functions for stationary barotropic flows. This is less then the seven variables which appear in the standard equations of barotropic magnetohydrodynamics which are the magnetic field $\vec B$ the velocity field $\vec v$ and the density $ρ$. The equations obtained for non-stationary barotropic magnetohydrodynamics resemble the equations of Frenkel, Levich & Stilman \cite{FLS}. The connection between the Hamiltonian formalism introduced in \cite{FLS} and the present Lagrangian formalism (with Eulerian variables) will be discussed. Finally the relations between barotropic magnetohydrodynamics topological constants and the functions of the present formalism will be elucidated.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2007

Electromagnetic Fields of Separable Space-Times

Carter derived the forms of the metric and the vector potentials of the space-times in which the relativistic Schrodinger equation for the motion of a charged particle separates. Here we show that on each `spheroidal' surface a rotation rate exists such that relative to those rotating axes the electric and magnetic fields are parallel and orthogonal to the spheroid which is thus an equipotential in those axes. All the finite Carter separable systems without magnetic monopoles or gravomagnetic NUT monopoles have the same gyromagnetic ratio as the Dirac electron.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2006

Gravitational energy in stationary spacetimes

Static observers remain on Killing-vector world lines and measure the rest-mass+kinetic energies of particles moving past them, and the flux of that mechanical energy through space and time. The total mechanical energy is the total flux through a spacelike cut at one time. The difference between the total mass-energy and the total mechanical energy is the total gravitational energy, which we prove to be negative for certain classes of systems. For spherical systems, Misner, Thorne and Wheeler define the total gravitational energy this way. To obtain the gravitational energy density analogous to that of electromagnetism we first use Einstein's equations with integrations by parts to remove second order derivatives. Next we apply a conformal transformation to reexpress the scalar 3-curvature of the 3-space. The resulting density is non-local. We repeat the argument for mechanical energies as measured by stationary observers moving orthogonally to constant time slices like the "zero angular momentum" observers of Bardeen who exist even within ergospheres.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2006

Simplified Variational Principles for Barotropic Fluid Dynamics

We introduce a three independent functions variational formalism for stationary and non-stationary barotropic flows. This is less than the four variables which appear in the standard equations of fluid dynamics which are the velocity field $\vec v$ and the density $ρ$. It will be shown how in terms of our new variable the Euler and continuity equations can be integrated in the stationary case.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2005

Relativistic conservation laws and integral constraints for large cosmological perturbations

For every mapping of a perturbed spacetime onto a background and with any vector field $ξ$ we construct a conserved covariant vector density $I(ξ)$, which is the divergence of a covariant antisymmetric tensor density, a "superpotential". $ I(ξ)$ is linear in the energy-momentum tensor perturbations of matter, which may be large; $I(ξ)$ does not contain the second order derivatives of the perturbed metric. The superpotential is identically zero when perturbations are absent. By integrating conserved vectors over a part $\Si$ of a hypersurface $S$ of the background, which spans a two-surface $\di\Si$, we obtain integral relations between, on the one hand, initial data of the perturbed metric components and the energy-momentum perturbations on $\Si$ and, on the other hand, the boundary values on $\di\Si$. We show that there are as many such integral relations as there are different mappings, $ξ$'s, $\Si$'s and $\di\Si$'s. For given boundary values on $\di\Si$, the integral relations may be interpreted as integral constraints (e.g., those of Traschen) on local initial data including the energy-momentum perturbations. Conservation laws expressed in terms of Killing fields $\Barξ$ of the background become "physical" conservation laws. In cosmology, to each mapping of the time axis of a Robertson-Walker space on a de Sitter space with the same spatial topology there correspond ten conservation laws. The conformal mapping leads to a straightforward generalization of conservation laws in flat spacetimes. Other mappings are also considered. ...

gr-qc↗

arXiv2004

The Relativistically Spinning Charged Sphere

When the equatorial spin velocity, $v$, of a charged conducting sphere approaches $c$, the Lorentz force causes a remarkable rearrangement of the total charge $q$. Charge of that sign is confined to a narrow equatorial belt at latitudes $b \leqslant \sqrt{3} (1 - v^2/c^2)^{1/2}$ while charge of the opposite sign occupies most of the sphere's surface. The change in field structure is shown to be a growing contribution of the `magic' electromagnetic field of the charged Kerr-Newman black hole with Newton's G set to zero. The total charge within the narrow equatorial belt grows as $(1-v^2/c^2)^{-{1/4}}$ and tends to infinity as $v$ approaches $c$. The electromagnetic field, Poynting vector, field angular momentum and field energy are calculated for these configurations. Gyromagnetic ratio, g-factor and electromagnetic mass are illustrated in terms of a 19th Century electron model. Classical models with no spin had the small classical electron radius $e^2/mc^2\sim$ a hundredth of the Compton wavelength, but models with spin take that larger size but are so relativistically concentrated to the equator that most of their mass is electromagnetic. The method of images at inverse points of the sphere is shown to extend to charges at points with imaginary co-ordinates.

gr-qc↗