Three-dimensional heat transfer effects in external layers of a magnetized neutron star

ABSTRACT Determination of a magnetic field structure on a neutron star (NS) surface is an important problem of a modern astrophysics. In a presence of strong magnetic fields, a thermal conductivity of a degenerate matter is anisotropic. In this paper, we present 3D anisotropic heat transfer simulations in outer layers of magnetized NSs, and construct synthetic thermal light curves. We have used a different from previous works tensorial thermal conductivity coefficient of electrons, derived from the analytical solution of the Boltzmann equation by the Chapman–Enskog method. We have obtained an NS surface temperature distribution in presence of dipole-plus-quadrupole magnetic fields. We consider a case, in which magnetic axes of a dipole and quadrupole components of the magnetic field are not aligned. To examine observational manifestations of such fields, we have generated thermal light curves for the obtained temperature distributions using a composite blackbody model. It is shown that the simplest (only zero-order spherical function in quadrupole component) non-coaxial dipole-plus-quadrupole magnetic field distribution can significantly affect the thermal light curves, making pulse profiles non-symmetric and amplifying pulsations in comparison to the pure-dipolar field.

First measurement of the total gravitational quadrupole moment of a black widow companion

ABSTRACT We present the first measurement of the gravitational quadrupole moment of the companion star of a spider pulsar, namely the black widow PSR J2051–0827. To this end, we have re-analysed radio timing data using a new model that is able to account for periastron precession caused by tidal and centrifugal deformations of the star as well as by general relativity. The model allows for a time-varying component of the quadrupole moment, thus self-consistently accounting for the ill-understood orbital period variations observed in these systems. Our analysis results in the first detection of orbital precession in a spider system at $\dot{\omega } = -68{_{.}^{\circ}}6_{-0{_{.}^{\circ}}5}^{+0{_{.}^{\circ}}9}$ yr−1 and the most accurate determination of orbital eccentricity for PSR J2051–0827 with e = (4.2 ± 0.1) × 10−5. We show that the variable quadrupole component is about 100 times smaller than the average quadrupole moment $\bar{Q} = -2.2_{-1}^{+0.6} \times 10^{41} \ {\rm kg\,m^2}$. We discuss how accurate modelling of high-precision optical light curves of the companion star will allow its apsidal motion constant to be derived from our results.

Possible systematics in the VLBI catalogs as seen from Gaia

Aims. In order to investigate the systematic errors in the very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) positions of extragalactic sources (quasars) and the global differences between Gaia and VLBI catalogs, we use the first data release of Gaia (Gaia DR1) quasar positions as the reference and study the positional offsets of the second realization of the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF2) and the Goddard VLBI solution 2016a (gsf2016a) catalogs. Methods. We select a sample of 1032 common sources among three catalogs and adopt two methods to represent the systematics: considering the differential orientation (offset) and declination bias; analyzing with the vector spherical harmonics (VSH) functions. Results. Between two VLBI catalogs and Gaia DR1, we find that: i) the estimated orientation is consistent with the alignment accuracy of Gaia DR1 to ICRF, of ~0.1 mas, but the southern and northern hemispheres show opposite orientations; ii) the declination bias in the southern hemisphere between Gaia DR1 and ICRF2 is estimated to be +152 μas, much larger than that between Gaia DR1 and gsf2016a which is +34 μas. Between two VLBI catalogs, we find that: i) the rotation component shows that ICRF2 and gsf2016a are generally consistent within 30 μas; ii) the glide component and quadrupole component report two declination-dependent offsets: dipolar deformation of ~+50 μas along the Z-axis, and quadrupolar deformation of ~−50 μas that would induce a pattern of sin2δ. Conclusions. The significant declination bias between Gaia DR1 and ICRF2 catalogs reported in previous studies is possibly attributed to the systematic errors of ICRF2 in the southern hemisphere. The global differences between ICRF2 and gsf2016a catalogs imply that possible, mainly declination-dependent systematics exit in the VLBI positions and need further investigations in the future Gaia data release and the next generation of ICRF.

Computation of stability regions for the cylindrical ion trap with no octupole electric field as compared to the corresponding results of the Paul trap

The cylindrical ion trap is analyzed so that the octupole component of the electric field inside the trap is set to zero. As a consequence, the diameter to height ratio is computed to be 1.20 for which the quadrupole component of the cylindrical ion trap is dominant. Afterwards, it is concluded that the electric potential inside the trap as well as the corresponding stability regions are very similar to those obtained for an ideal Paul trap with pure quadrupole electric field. Furthermore, we drew a conclusion that the stability diagrams of the cylindrical ion trap without octupole term and the stability diagrams of the Paul trap have 5.6%, 3.7%, and 2.9% discrepancy for the first, second, and third stability diagrams, respectively. It should be noted that, expansion of the electric potential inside the cylindrical ion trap in terms of the multipole electric field components and making the advantages of the octupole term elimination has not been reported in the literature previously.

Optimising the Gaia scanning law for relativity experiments

Gaia is ESA's upcoming astrometry mission, building on the heritage of its predecessor, Hipparcos. The Gaia nominal scanning law (NSL) prescribes the ideal attitude of the spacecraft over the operational phase of the mission. As such, it precisely determines when certain areas of the sky are observed. From theoretical considerations on sky-sampling uniformity, it is easy to show that the optimum scanning law for a space astrometry experiment like Gaia is a revolving scan with uniform rotation around the instrument symmetry axis. Since thermal stability requirements for Gaia's payload require the solar aspect angle to be fixed, the optimum parallax resolving power is obtained by letting the spin axis precess around the solar direction. The precession speed has been selected as compromise, limiting the across-scan smearing of images when they transit the focal plane, providing sufficient overlap between successive “great-circle” scans of the fields of view, and guaranteeing overlap of successive precession loops. With this scanning law, with fixed solar-aspect angle, spin rate, and precession speed, only two free parameters remain: the initial spin phase and the initial precession angle, at the start of science operations. Both angles, and in particular the initial precession angle, can be initialized following various (programmatic) criteria. Examples are optimization/fine-tuning of the Earth-pointing angle, of the number and total duration of Galactic-plane scans, or of the ground-station scheduling. This paper explores various criteria, with particular emphasis on the opportunity to optimise the scanning-law initial conditions to “observe” the most favorable passages of bright stars very close to Jupiter's limb. This would allow a unique determination of the light deflection due to the quadrupole component of the gravitational field of this planet.

SENSITIVITY OF ONE-QUASIPARTICLE SPECTRA OF HEAVIEST NUCLEI TO VARIOUS FACTORS

Sensitivity of one-quasiparticle spectrum of a heavy nucleus to changes of such quantities as equilibrium deformation and pairing-interaction strength is studied. The study is done within a macroscopic-microscopic approach. The analysis is performed on the example of the nucleus 241 Am . Especially large sensitivity of the spectrum to changes of the quadrupole component of the equilibrium deformation is found.

The Oblique Pulsator Model for the Blazhko Effect in RR Lyrae Stars. Theory of Amplitude Modulation I

By assuming that RR Lyrae stars have fairly strong dipole magnetic fields with symmetry axis oblique to the rotation axis of the star, I show that the oscillation mode which would be a pure radial oscillation in absence of the magnetic field has a quadrupole component, whose symmetry axis coincides with the magnetic axis. The aspect angle of the quadrupole component changes due to the stellar rotation, and this apparent amplitude variation is interpreted as the Blazhko effect in RR Lyrae stars. It is shown that, in the case of off-axis magnetic field, phase modulation is expected. I list up some theoretical predictions based on this model, which would observationally examine this hypothesis.

Magnetic Fields in AM Her Binaries

There is growing evidence of complex white dwarf magnetic fields in CVs (e.g. Meggitt & Wickramasinghe 1989; Robinson & Cordova 1994). The properties of systems with non-dipolar white dwarf magnetic fields have been investigated, and it was found that a non-negligible quadrupole component is essential for the magnetic locking of AM Her binaries (AM Hers) (Wu & Wickramasinghe 1993). In a recent study the ratio of the quadrupole to dipole component of the surface field of white dwarfs was shown to grow by a factor of 10 during the white dwarf cooling lifetime (Muslimov, van Horn & Wood 1995), thus the quadrupole field component is long lived and significant.