Are there Magnetars among Long-period X-ray Pulsars?

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• Nazar Ikhsanov (NASA/Marshall)
• Thursday 18 March 2010, 11:30-12:00
• Large Martin Ryle Seminar Room, KICC.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Dr Jonathan Gair.

About a couple of tens galactic X-ray sources display regular pulses, with periods in a range of 500-20000s. They are identified with massive close binaries in which a magnetized neutron star accretes material onto its surface. The observed pulsations are unambiguously associated with the spin period of the neutron star. Analysis of the observed spin-evolution and possible history of these pulsars in terms of currently adopted spin-down model suggests that the field strength of the neutron star exceeds the quantum critical level and hence these objects are magnetars. If this finding were correct a major revision of the magneto-rotational evolution model would be required. In my talk I show, however, that the observed behavior of the pulsars can reflect a more complicated structure of the accretion flow surrounding their magnetospheres. A solution we get in this case is consistent with currently used evolution model of close binaries.

This talk is part of the Institute of Astronomy Seminars series.

This talk is included in these lists:

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• Combined External Astrophysics Talks DAMTP
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• Cosmology, Astrophysics and General Relativity
• Institute of Astronomy Seminars
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• Large Martin Ryle Seminar Room, KICC
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