Revisiting field burial by accretion onto neutron stars

Abstract

The surface magnetic field strength of millisecond pulsars (MSPs) is found to be about 4 orders of magnitude lower than that of garden variety radio pulsars (with a spin of $\sim 0.5-5$ s and $B\sim 10^{12}$G). The exact mechanism of the apparent reduction of field strength in MSPs is still a subject of debate. One of the proposed mechanisms is burial of the surface magnetic field under matter accreted from a companion. In this article we review the recent work on magnetic confinement of accreted matter on neutron stars poles. We present the solutions of the magneto-static equations with a more accurate equation of state of the magnetically confined plasma and discuss its implications for the field burial mechanism.

Has appeared in Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy special issue on 'Physics of Neutron Stars and Related Objects', celebrating the 75th birth-year of G. Srinivasan

References in corpus (4)

• Burial of the polar magnetic field of an accreting neutron star. II. Hydromagnetic stability of axisymmetric equilibria
• Resistive relaxation of a magnetically confined mountain on an accreting neutron star
• Three-dimensional stability of magnetically confined mountains on accreting neutron stars
• Cyclotron line signatures of thermal and magnetic mountains from accreting neutron stars

Cited by in corpus (6)

• PSR J0952-0607: The Fastest and Heaviest Known Galactic Neutron Star
• An Optical Study of the Black Widow Population
• Magnetically confined mountains on accreting neutron stars with multipole magnetic fields
• Modelling spin-up episodes in accreting millisecond X-ray pulsars
• Quasi periodic whispers from a transient ULX in M\,101: signatures of a fast-spinning neutron star?
• Magnetically Confined Mountains on Accreting Neutron Stars in General Relativity