Some topics in the magnetohydrodynamics of accreting magnetic compact objects
Abstract
Magnetic compact objects (neutron stars or white dwarfs) are currently thought to be present in many accreting systems that are releasing large amounts of energy. The magnetic field of the compact star may interact strongly with the accretion flow and play an essential role in the physics of these systems. Some magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) problems that are likely to be relevant in building up self-consistent models of the interaction between the accreting plasma and the star's magnetosphere are addressed in this series of lectures. The basic principles of MHD are first introduced and some important MHD mechanisms (Rayleigh-Taylor and Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities; reconnection) are discussed, with particular reference to their role in allowing the infalling matter to penetrate the magnetosphere and mix with the field. The structurre of a force-free magnetosphere and the possibility of quasi-static momentum and energy transfer between regions linked by field-aligned currents are then studied in some detail. Finally, the structure of axisymmetric accretion flows onto magnetic compact objects is considered.
- Publication:
-
Magnetospheric Phenomena in Astrophysics
- Pub Date:
- June 1986
- DOI:
- 10.1063/1.35667
- Bibcode:
- 1986AIPC..144...45A
- Keywords:
-
- Accretion Disks;
- Magnetic Stars;
- Magnetohydrodynamics;
- Stellar Magnetic Fields;
- Stellar Mass Accretion;
- Earth Magnetosphere;
- Field Aligned Currents;
- Force-Free Magnetic Fields;
- Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability;
- Magnetohydrodynamic Stability;
- Neutron Stars;
- White Dwarf Stars;
- Astrophysics;
- 97.60.Jd;
- 97.20.Rp;
- 95.30.Lz;
- 97.10.Ha;
- Neutron stars;
- Faint blue stars white dwarfs degenerate stars nuclei of planetary nebulae;
- Hydrodynamics