P B Jones — Page 2 | Searcharxiv

arXiv2007

Interaction and ablation of fall-back disks in isolated neutron stars

An analysis of ablation processes is made for a fall-back disk with inner and outer radii external to the neutron-star light cylinder. The calculated ablation rate leads, with certain other assumptions, to a simple expression relating the inner radius and mean mass per unit area of any long-lived fall-back disk. Expressions for the torque components generated by interaction with the pulsar wind are obtained. It is not impossible that these could be responsible for small observable variations in pulse shape and spin-down rate but they are unlikely to be the source of the periodic changes seen in several pulsars.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2006

Type I and Two-Gap Superconductivity in Neutron Star Magnetism

Neutron-star inner cores with several charged baryonic components are likely to be analogues of the two-gap superconductor which is of current interest in condensed-matter physics. Consequently, type I superconductivity is less probable than type II but may nevertheless be present in some intervals of matter density. The intermediate state structure formed at finite magnetic flux densities after the superconducting transitions is subject to buoyancy, frictional and neutron-vortex interaction forces. These are estimated and it is shown that the most important frictional force is that produced by the stable stratification of neutron-star matter, the irreversible process being diffusion in the normal, finite magnetic-flux density, parts of the structure. The length-scale of the structure, in directions perpendicular to the local magnetic field is of crucial importance. For small scales, the flux comoves with the neutron vortices, as do the proton vortices of a type II superconductor. But for much larger length-scales, flux movement tends to that expected for normal charged Fermi systems.

astro-ph↗