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V. V. Usov

Publications and source records attributed to V. V. Usov.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2008

Excitation and conversion of electromagnetic waves in pulsar magnetospheres

We demonstrate that nonlinear decay of obliquely propagating Langmuir waves into Langmuir and Alfven waves (L --> L'+A) is possible in a one-dimensional, highly relativistic, streaming, pair plasma. Such a plasma may be in the magnetospheres of pulsars. It is shown that the characteristic frequency of generated Alfven waves is much less than the frequency of Langmuir waves and may be consistent with the observational data on the radio emission of pulsars.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2007

String-Like Electrostatic Interaction from QED with Infinite Magnetic Field

In the limit of infinite external magnetic field B the static field of an electric charge is squeezed into a string parallel to B. Near the charge the potential grows like |x_3|(ln |x_3| + const) with the coordinate x_3 along the string. The energy of the string breaking is finite and very close to the effective photon mass.

hep-th↗
arXiv2007

Electric field of a pointlike charge in a strong magnetic field and ground state of a hydrogenlike atom

In an external constant magnetic field, so strong that the electron Larmour length is much shorter than its Compton length, we consider the modification of the Coulomb potential of a point charge owing to the vacuum polarization. We establish a short-range component of the static interaction in the Larmour scale, expressed as a Yukawa-like law, and reveal the corresponding "photon mass" parameter. The electrostatic force regains its long-range character in the Compton scale: the tail of the potential follows an anisotropic Coulomb law, decreasing away from the charge slower along the magnetic field and faster across. In the infinite-magnetic-field limit the potential is confined to an infinitely thin string passing though the charge parallel to the external field. This is the first evidence for dimensional reduction in the photon sector of quantum electrodynamics. The one-dimensional form of the potential on the string is derived that includes a delta-function centered in the charge. The nonrelativistic ground-state energy of a hydrogenlike atom is found with its use and shown not to be infinite in the infinite-field limit, contrary to what was commonly accepted before, when the vacuum polarization had been ignored. These results may be useful for studying properties of matter at the surface of extremely magnetized neutron stars.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2007

Pair Winds in Schwarzschild Spacetime with Application to Strange Stars

We present the results of numerical simulations of stationary, spherically outflowing, electron-positron pair winds, with total luminosities in the range 10^{34}--10^{42} ergs/s. In the concrete example described here, the wind injection source is a hot, bare, strange star, predicted to be a powerful source of pairs created by the Coulomb barrier at the quark surface. We find that photons dominate in the emerging emission, and the emerging photon spectrum is rather hard and differs substantially from the thermal spectrum expected from a neutron star with the same luminosity. This might help distinguish the putative bare strange stars from neutron stars.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2006

Strangelets accelerated by pulsars in galactic cosmic rays

It is shown that nuggets of strange quark matter may be extracted from the surface of pulsars and accelerated by strong electric fields to high energies if pulsars are strange stars with the crusts, comprised of nuggets embedded in a uniform electron background. Such high energy nuggets called usually strangelets give an observable contribution into galactic cosmic rays and may be detected by the upcoming cosmic ray experiment Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer AMS-02 on the International Space Station.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2006

Electric field of a point-like charge in a strong magnetic field

We describe the potential produced by a point electric charge placed into a constant magnetic field, so strong that the electron Larmour length is much shorter than its Compton length. The standard Coulomb law is modified due to the vacuum polarization by the external magnetic field. Only mode-2 photons mediate the static interaction. The corresponding vacuum polarization component, taken in the one-loop approximation, grows linearly with the magnetic field. Thanks to this fact a scaling regime occurs in the limit of infinite magnetic field, where the potential is determined by a universal function, independent the magnetic field. The scaling regime implies a short-range character of interaction in the Larmour scale, expressed as a Yukawa law. On the contrary, the electromagnetic interaction regains its long-range character in a larger scale, characterized by the Compton length. In this scale the tail of the Yukawa potential follows an anisotropic Coulomb law: it decreases as the distance from the charge increases, slower along the magnetic field and faster across. The equipotential surface is an ellipsoid stretched along the magnetic field. As a whole, the modified Coulomb potential is a narrower-shaped function than the standard Coulomb function, the narrower the stronger the field. The singular behavior in the vicinity of the charge remains unsuppressed by the magnetic field. These results may be useful for studying atomic spectra in super- strong magnetic fields of several Schwinger's characteristic values.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2006

Structure of pair winds from compact objects with application to emission from bare strange stars

We present the results of numerical simulations of stationary, spherically outflowing, electron-positron pair winds, with total luminosities in the range 10^{34}- 10^{42} ergs/s. In the concrete example described here, the wind injection source is a hot, bare, strange star, predicted to be a powerful source of electron-positron pairs created by the Coulomb barrier at the quark surface. We find that photons dominate in the emerging emission, and the emerging photon spectrum is rather hard and differs substantially from the thermal spectrum expected from a neutron star with the same luminosity. This might help distinguish the putative bare strange stars from neutron stars.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2006

Bethe-Salpeter approach for relativistic positronium in a strong magnetic field

We study the electron-positron system in a strong magnetic field using the differential Bethe-Salpeter equation in the ladder approximation. We derive the fully relativistic two-dimensional form that the four-dimensional Bethe-Salpeter equation takes in the limit of asymptotically strong constant and homogeneous magnetic field. An ultimate value for the magnetic field is determined, which provides the full compensation of the positronium rest mass by the binding energy in the maximum symmetry state and vanishing of the energy gap separating the electron-positron system from the vacuum. The compensation becomes possible owing to the falling to the center phenomenon that occurs in a strong magnetic field because of the dimensional reduction. The solution of the Bethe-Salpeter equation corresponding to the vanishing energy-momentum of the electron-positron system is obtained.

hep-th↗
arXiv2006

Collapse of Positronium and Vacuum Instability

A hypercritical value for the magnetic field is determined, which provides the full compensation of the positronium rest mass by the binding energy in the maximum symmetry state and disappearance of the energy gap separating the electron-positron system from the vacuum. The compensation becomes possible owing to the falling to the center phenomenon. The structure of the vacuum is described in terms of strongly localized states of tightly mutually bound (or confined) pairs. Their delocalization for still higher magnetic field, capable of screening its further growth, is discussed.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2005

Positronium collapse in hypercritical magnetic field and restructuring of the vacuum in QED

\\The Bethe-Salpeter equation in a strong magnetic field is studied for positronium atom in an ultra-relativistic regime, and a (hypercritical) value for the magnetic field is determined, which provides the full compensation of the positronium rest mass by the binding energy in the maximum symmetry state. The compensation becomes possible owing to the falling to the center phenomenon. The relativistic form in two-dimensional Minkowsky space is derived for the four-dimensional Bethe-Salpeter equation in the limit of an infinitely strong magnetic field, and used for finding the above hypercritical value. Once the positronium rest mass is compensated by the mass defect the energy barrier separating the electron-positron system from the vacuum disappears. We thus describe the structure of the vacuum in terms of strongly localized states of tightly mutually bound (or confined) pairs. Their delocalization for still higher magnetic field, capable of screening its further growth, is discussed.

hep-th↗
arXiv2005

Pair winds in Schwarzschild space-time with application to hot bare strange stars

We consider a time dependent, spherically outflowing wind, in Schwarzschild space-time, consisting of electron-positron pairs and photons . Without assuming thermal equilibrium, we account for the microphysics, including two-body processes and their radiative three-body variants. We present a finite-difference scheme for solving the general relativistic kinetic Boltzmann equations for electron-positron pairs and photons. We apply this to the concrete example of a wind from a hot, bare, strange star, predicted to be a powerful source of hard X-ray photons and pairs created by the Coulomb barrier at the quark surface. We study the kinetics of the wind particles and the emerging emission in photons and pairs for stationary winds with total luminosities in the range 10^{34}-10^{39} ergs/s, for different values of the injected photon-to-pair ratio. The wind parameters--such as the mean optical depth for photons, the rates of particle number and energy outflows, bulk velocity, and number density of the pair plasma--are presented as functions of the distance from the stellar surface, as well as characteristics of the emergent radiation. We find that photons dominate in the emerging emission, and the emerging photon spectrum is rather hard and differs substantially from the thermal spectrum expected from a neutron star with the same luminosity. This might help distinguish the putative bare strange stars from neutron stars.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2004

Structure of the electrospheres of bare strange stars

We consider a thin ($\sim 10^2-10^3$ fm) layer of electrons (the electrosphere) at the quark surface of a bare strange star, taking into account the surface effects at the boundary with the vacuum. The quark surface holds the electron layer by an extremely strong electric field, generated in the electrosphere to prevent the electrons from escaping to infinity by counterbalancing the degeneracy and thermal pressure. Because of the surface tension and depletion of $s$ quarks a very thin (a few fm) charged layer of quarks forms at the surface of the star. The formation of this layer modifies the structure of the electrosphere, by significantly changing the electric field and the density of the electrons, in comparison with the case when the surface effects are ignored. Some consequences of the modification of the electrosphere structure on the properties of strange stars are briefly discussed.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2004

Structure of pair winds from compact objects with application to emission from hot bare strange stars

We consider a stationary, spherically outflowing wind consisting of electron-positron pairs and photons. We do not assume thermal equilibrium, and include the two-body processes that occur in such a wind: Moller and Bhaba scattering of pairs, Compton scattering, two-photon pair annihilation, and two-photon pair production, together with their radiative three-body variants: bremsstrahlung, double Compton scattering, and three-photon pair annihilation, with their inverse processes. In the concrete example described here, the wind injection source is a hot, bare, strange star. Such stars are thought to be powerful sources of pairs created by the Coulomb barrier at the quark surface. We present a new, finite-difference scheme for solving the relativistic kinetic Boltzmann equations for pairs and photons. Using this method we study the kinetics of the wind particles and the emerging emission for total luminosities of L=10^{34}-10^{42} ergs/s. We find the rates of particle number and energy outflows, outflow velocities, number densities, energy spectra, and other parameters for both photons and pairs as functions of the distance. We find that for L>2x10^{35} ergs/s, photons dominate the emerging emission. As L increases from ~ 10^{34} to 10^{42} ergs/s, the mean energy of emergent photons decreases from ~400-500 keV to 40 keV, as the spectrum changes in shape from that of a wide annihilation line to nearly a blackbody spectrum with a high energy (> 100 keV) tail. These results are pertinent to the deduction of the outside appearance of hot bare strange stars, which might help discern them from neutron stars.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2003

Radiation from hot bare strange stars

We present the results of numerical simulations of stationary, spherically outflowing, pair winds, with total luminosities of L=10^{35}- 10^{42} ergs/s. These results have direct relevance to the emission from hot, bare, strange stars, which are thought to be powerful sources of electron-positron pairs created by the Coulomb barrier at the quark surface. The spectra of emergent photons and pairs are calculated. For L > 2x10^{35} erg/s, photons dominate the emerging emission. As L increases from 10^{35} to 10^{42} ergs/s, the mean photon energy decreases from ~ 400-500 keV to 40 keV, while the spectrum changes in shape from a wide annihilation line to being nearly blackbody with a high energy (> 100 keV) tail. Such a correlation of the photon spectrum with the luminosity, together with the fact that super-Eddington luminosities can be achieved, might be a good observational signature of hot, bare, strange stars.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2002

Two-stream Instability in Pulsar Magnetospheres

Creation of electron-positron pairs near the pulsar surface and the parameters of plasma in pulsar magnetospheres are discussed. It is argued that the pair creation process is nonstationary, and the pair plasma that flows out from the pulsar environment is strongly nonhomogeneous and gathers into separate clouds. Plasma instabilities in the outflowing plasma are reviewed. The two-stream instability that develops due to strong nonhomogeneity of the outflowing plasma is the most plausible reason for the generation of coherent radio emission of pulsars. The development of the two-stream instability in pulsar magnetospheres is considered.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2001

Strange Star Heating Events as a Model for Giant Flares of Soft Gamma-ray Repeaters

Two giant flares were observed on 5 March 1979 and 27 August 1998 from the soft gamma-ray repeaters SGR 0526-66 and SGR 1900+14, respectively. The striking similarity between these remarkable bursts strongly implies a common nature. We show that the light curves of the giant bursts may be easily explained in the model where the burst radiation is produced by the bare quark surface of a strange star heated, for example, by impact of a massive comet-like object.

astro-ph↗