A magnetic thrust action on small bodies orbiting a pulsar

Abstract

We investigate the electromagnetic interaction of a relativistic stellar wind with small bodies in orbit around the star. Based on our work on the theory of Alfvén wings to relativistic winds presented in a companion paper, we estimate the force exerted by the associated current system on orbiting bodies and evaluate the resulting orbital drift. This Alfvénic structure is found to have no significant influence on planets or smaller bodies orbiting a millisecond pulsar. %influence on the orbit of bodies around a millisecond pulsar. On the timescale of millions of years, it can however affect the orbit of bodies with a diameter of 100 kilometres around standard pulsars with a period $P\sim$1 s and a magnetic field $B\sim 10^8$ T. Kilometer-sized bodies experience drastic orbital changes on a timescale of $10^4$ years.

accepted for publication in "Astronomy and Astrophysics"

References in corpus (5)

• Gamma-ray flares from the Crab Nebula
• A low-magnetic-field Soft Gamma Repeater
• Magnetic coupling of planets and small bodies with a pulsar wind"
• Interaction and ablation of fall-back disks in isolated neutron stars
• Constraints on fall-back disks in radio pulsars and anomalous X-ray pulsars

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Fast Radio Bursts: Collisions between Neutron Stars and Asteroids/Comets
• Radio emissions from pulsar companions : a refutable explanation for galactic transients and fast radio bursts
• Pre-merger electromagnetic counterparts of binary compact stars
• Anti-glitch induced by collision of a solid body with the magnetar 1E 2259+586
• Ohmic heating of asteroids around magnetic stars
• Do asteroids evaporate near pulsars? Induction heating by pulsar waves revisited
• Dynamics of the clumps partially disrupted from a planet around a neutron star
• Repeating X-ray bursts: Interaction between a neutron star and clumps partially disrupted from a planet