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Gravitational radiation limit on the spin of young neutron stars

Gravitational radiation limit on the spin of young neutron stars
Gravitational radiation limit on the spin of young neutron stars
A newly discovered instability in rotating neutron stars, driven by gravitational radiation reaction acting on the stars' r-modes, is shown here to set an upper limit on the spin rate of young neutron stars. We calculate the timescales for the growth of linear perturbations due to gravitational radiation reaction, and for dissipation by shear and bulk viscosity, working to second order in a slow-rotation expansion within a Newtonian polytropic stellar model. The results are very temperature-sensitive: in hot neutron stars (T>109 K), the lowest-order r-modes are unstable, while in colder stars they are damped by viscosity. These calculations have a number of interesting astrophysical implications. First, the r-mode instability will spin down a newly born neutron star to a period close to the initial period inferred for the Crab pulsar, probably between 10 and 20 ms. Second, as an initially rapidly rotating star spins down, an energy equivalent to roughly 1% of a solar mass is radiated as gravitational waves, which makes the process an interesting source for detectable gravitational waves. Third, the r-mode instability rules out the scenario in which millisecond pulsars are formed by accretion-induced collapse of a white dwarf; the new star would be hot enough to spin down to much slower rates. Stars with periods less than perhaps 10 ms must have been formed by spin-up through accretion in binary systems, where they remain colder than the Eddington temperature of about 108 K. More accurate calculations will be required to define the limiting spin period more reliably, and we discuss the importance of the major uncertainties in the stellar models, in the initial conditions after collapse, and in the physics of cooling, superfluidity, and the equation of state.
846-853
Andersson, Nils
2dd6d1ee-cefd-478a-b1ac-e6feedafe304
Kokkotas, Kostas
61f2621b-14cb-49f8-b57e-6d351d6c18c2
Schutz, Bernard F.
8f086301-4ac3-43b7-9c34-3719eb3e97ba
Andersson, Nils
2dd6d1ee-cefd-478a-b1ac-e6feedafe304
Kokkotas, Kostas
61f2621b-14cb-49f8-b57e-6d351d6c18c2
Schutz, Bernard F.
8f086301-4ac3-43b7-9c34-3719eb3e97ba

Andersson, Nils, Kokkotas, Kostas and Schutz, Bernard F. (1999) Gravitational radiation limit on the spin of young neutron stars. The Astrophysical Journal, 510 (1), 846-853. (doi:10.1086/306625).

Record type: Article

Abstract

A newly discovered instability in rotating neutron stars, driven by gravitational radiation reaction acting on the stars' r-modes, is shown here to set an upper limit on the spin rate of young neutron stars. We calculate the timescales for the growth of linear perturbations due to gravitational radiation reaction, and for dissipation by shear and bulk viscosity, working to second order in a slow-rotation expansion within a Newtonian polytropic stellar model. The results are very temperature-sensitive: in hot neutron stars (T>109 K), the lowest-order r-modes are unstable, while in colder stars they are damped by viscosity. These calculations have a number of interesting astrophysical implications. First, the r-mode instability will spin down a newly born neutron star to a period close to the initial period inferred for the Crab pulsar, probably between 10 and 20 ms. Second, as an initially rapidly rotating star spins down, an energy equivalent to roughly 1% of a solar mass is radiated as gravitational waves, which makes the process an interesting source for detectable gravitational waves. Third, the r-mode instability rules out the scenario in which millisecond pulsars are formed by accretion-induced collapse of a white dwarf; the new star would be hot enough to spin down to much slower rates. Stars with periods less than perhaps 10 ms must have been formed by spin-up through accretion in binary systems, where they remain colder than the Eddington temperature of about 108 K. More accurate calculations will be required to define the limiting spin period more reliably, and we discuss the importance of the major uncertainties in the stellar models, in the initial conditions after collapse, and in the physics of cooling, superfluidity, and the equation of state.

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Published date: 1999

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 29428
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/29428
PURE UUID: e981881b-1a00-476f-8f6c-40e2f43fdc9c
ORCID for Nils Andersson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-8550-3843

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Date deposited: 20 Dec 2006
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 03:01

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Contributors

Author: Nils Andersson ORCID iD
Author: Kostas Kokkotas
Author: Bernard F. Schutz

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