X-ray emission from a neutron star with a strong magnetic dipole field.
Abstract
The accretion of matter by a neutron star with a strong magnetic dipole field is considered as a model of X-ray sources. The structure of two narrow magnetic polar cones, along which matter falls down to the stellar surface, has been studied in detail. It is shown that the cone is optically thick and that the photon diffusion time is essential in determining the structure, which depends mainly on the accretion rate. Consequently, a blackbody spectrum corresponding to approximately 10 million K is emitted from the surface of the cone for an accretion rate of about 1 billionth of a solar mass per year. This model accounts for the observed nature of Cen X-3 fairly well.
- Publication:
-
Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan
- Pub Date:
- 1975
- Bibcode:
- 1975PASJ...27..311I
- Keywords:
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- Astronomical Models;
- Neutron Stars;
- Stellar Magnetic Fields;
- Stellar Radiation;
- X Ray Sources;
- Black Body Radiation;
- Density Distribution;
- Magnetic Dipoles;
- Optical Thickness;
- Stellar Evolution;
- Thermodynamic Equilibrium;
- Astrophysics