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Disk-Accreting Magnetic Neutron Stars as High-Energy Particle Accelerators

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

Russell J. Hamilton ,
Frederick K. Lamb  and
M. Coleman Miller
Russell J. Hamilton
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Illinoisat Urbana-Champaign, 1110 West Green Street, Urbana, IL 61801-3080
Frederick K. Lamb
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Illinoisat Urbana-Champaign, 1110 West Green Street, Urbana, IL 61801-3080
M. Coleman Miller
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Illinoisat Urbana-Champaign, 1110 West Green Street, Urbana, IL 61801-3080

Abstract

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Interaction of an accretion disk with the magnetic field of a neutron star produces large electromotive forces, which drive large conduction currents in the disk-magnetosphere-star circuit. Here we argue that such large conduction currents will cause microscopic and macroscopic instabilities in the magnetosphere. If the minimum plasma density in the magnetosphere is relatively low (≲109 cm−3 ), current-driven micro-instabilities may cause relativistic double layers to form, producing voltage differences in excess of 1012 V and accelerating charged particles to very high energies. If instead the plasma density is higher (≳ 109 cm−3 ), twisting of the stellar magnetic field is likely to cause magnetic field reconnection. This reconnection will be relativistic, accelerating plasma in the magnetosphere to relativistic speeds and a small fraction of particles to very high energies. Interaction of these high-energy particles with X-rays, γ-rays, and accreting plasma may produce detectable high-energy radiation.

Subject headings: acceleration of particles — accretion, accretion disks — gamma rays: theory — plasmas — radiation mechanisms: nonthermal — stars: neutron

Type
Poster Papers
Information
International Astronomical Union Colloquium , Volume 142: Particle Acceleration Phenomena in Astrophysical Plasmas , 1994 , pp. 837 - 839
Copyright
Copyright © The American Astronomical Society 1994

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