Giant Hall Waves Launched by Superconducting Phase Transition in Pulsars
The cores of pulsars are expected to become superconducting soon after birth. The transition to type-II superconductivity is associated with the bunching of magnetic field lines into discrete superconducting flux tubes which possess enormous tension. The coupling of the crust to the flux tubes impli...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
|
| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad90a3 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1832591320071274496 |
|---|---|
| author | Ashley Bransgrove Yuri Levin Andrei M. Beloborodov |
| author_facet | Ashley Bransgrove Yuri Levin Andrei M. Beloborodov |
| author_sort | Ashley Bransgrove |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The cores of pulsars are expected to become superconducting soon after birth. The transition to type-II superconductivity is associated with the bunching of magnetic field lines into discrete superconducting flux tubes which possess enormous tension. The coupling of the crust to the flux tubes implies the existence of huge tangential magnetic fields at the crust–core interface. We show that the transition to superconductivity triggers a highly nonlinear response in the Hall drift of the crustal magnetic field, an effect which was neglected in previous numerical modeling. We argue that at the time of the phase transition giant Hall waves are launched from the crust–core interface toward the surface. Our models show that if the crust contains a multipolar magnetic field ∼10 ^13 G, the amplitude of the Hall waves is ∼10 ^15 G. The elastic deformation of the lattice is included in our models, which allows us to track the time-dependent shear stresses everywhere in the crust. The simulations indicate that the Hall waves may be strong enough to break the crust, and could cause star quakes which trigger rotation glitches and changes in the radio pulse profile. The Hall waves also couple to slow magnetospheric changes, which cause anomalous braking indices. The emission of the giant Hall waves from the crust–core interface facilitates fast flux expulsion from the superconducting core, provided that the flux tubes in the core are themselves sufficiently mobile. For all of the flux tube mobility prescriptions implemented in this work, the core approaches the Meissner state with B = 0 at late times. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-ac58dd7673e4419c98d836a6c59e5f83 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1538-4357 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-ac58dd7673e4419c98d836a6c59e5f832025-01-22T13:03:48ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572025-01-01979214410.3847/1538-4357/ad90a3Giant Hall Waves Launched by Superconducting Phase Transition in PulsarsAshley Bransgrove0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9711-9424Yuri Levin1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6987-1299Andrei M. Beloborodov2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5660-3175Princeton Center for Theoretical Science and Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University , Princeton, NJ 08544, USA ; abransgrove@princeton.edu; Physics Department and Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, Columbia University , 538 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USAPhysics Department and Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, Columbia University , 538 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USA; Center for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute , 162 5th Avenue, 6th floor, New York, NY 10010, USA; Department of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University , Clayton, VIC 3800, AustraliaPhysics Department and Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, Columbia University , 538 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USA; Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics , Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 1, D-85741, Garching, GermanyThe cores of pulsars are expected to become superconducting soon after birth. The transition to type-II superconductivity is associated with the bunching of magnetic field lines into discrete superconducting flux tubes which possess enormous tension. The coupling of the crust to the flux tubes implies the existence of huge tangential magnetic fields at the crust–core interface. We show that the transition to superconductivity triggers a highly nonlinear response in the Hall drift of the crustal magnetic field, an effect which was neglected in previous numerical modeling. We argue that at the time of the phase transition giant Hall waves are launched from the crust–core interface toward the surface. Our models show that if the crust contains a multipolar magnetic field ∼10 ^13 G, the amplitude of the Hall waves is ∼10 ^15 G. The elastic deformation of the lattice is included in our models, which allows us to track the time-dependent shear stresses everywhere in the crust. The simulations indicate that the Hall waves may be strong enough to break the crust, and could cause star quakes which trigger rotation glitches and changes in the radio pulse profile. The Hall waves also couple to slow magnetospheric changes, which cause anomalous braking indices. The emission of the giant Hall waves from the crust–core interface facilitates fast flux expulsion from the superconducting core, provided that the flux tubes in the core are themselves sufficiently mobile. For all of the flux tube mobility prescriptions implemented in this work, the core approaches the Meissner state with B = 0 at late times.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad90a3Radio pulsarsMagnetic fieldsNeutron star coresPlasma astrophysics |
| spellingShingle | Ashley Bransgrove Yuri Levin Andrei M. Beloborodov Giant Hall Waves Launched by Superconducting Phase Transition in Pulsars The Astrophysical Journal Radio pulsars Magnetic fields Neutron star cores Plasma astrophysics |
| title | Giant Hall Waves Launched by Superconducting Phase Transition in Pulsars |
| title_full | Giant Hall Waves Launched by Superconducting Phase Transition in Pulsars |
| title_fullStr | Giant Hall Waves Launched by Superconducting Phase Transition in Pulsars |
| title_full_unstemmed | Giant Hall Waves Launched by Superconducting Phase Transition in Pulsars |
| title_short | Giant Hall Waves Launched by Superconducting Phase Transition in Pulsars |
| title_sort | giant hall waves launched by superconducting phase transition in pulsars |
| topic | Radio pulsars Magnetic fields Neutron star cores Plasma astrophysics |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad90a3 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ashleybransgrove gianthallwaveslaunchedbysuperconductingphasetransitioninpulsars AT yurilevin gianthallwaveslaunchedbysuperconductingphasetransitioninpulsars AT andreimbeloborodov gianthallwaveslaunchedbysuperconductingphasetransitioninpulsars |