[83.08] MHD Stability of Polar Caps of Accreting Neutron Stars

AAS 197, January 2001
Session 83. Compact Objects
Display, Wednesday, January 10, 2001, 9:30am-7:00pm, Exhibit Hall

[83.08] MHD Stability of Polar Caps of Accreting Neutron Stars

C. Litwin, E.F. Brown, R. Rosner (University of Chicago)

We assess the stability of magnetic Rayleigh-Taylor type modes driven by the overpressure of magnetically confined accreted matter on the surface of a neutron star. We employ the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) energy principle to analyze the stability of short-wavelength (ballooning) modes subject to line-tying in the neutron star crust.

Research supported by ASCI/Alliances Center for Astrophysical Thermonuclear Flashes at the University of Chicago.

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