Journal article
Differential rotation in neutron stars with open and closed magnetic topologies
F Anzuini, A Melatos
MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY | OXFORD UNIV PRESS | Published : 2020
Abstract
Analytic arguments have been advanced that the degree of differential rotation in a neutron star depends on whether the topology of the internal magnetic field is open or closed. To test this assertion, the ideal-magnetohydrodynamics solver PLUTO is employed to investigate numerically the flow of an incompressible, viscous fluid threaded by a magnetic field with open and closed topologies in a conducting, differentially rotating, spherical shell. Rigid body corotationwith the outer sphere is enforced on the Alfvén time-scale, along magnetic field lines that connect the northern and southern hemispheres of the outer sphere. Along other field lines, however, the behaviour is more complicated. ..
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Funding Acknowledgements
FA acknowledges the support of the University of Melbourne through a Melbourne Research Scholarship. The authors thank the anonymous referee for pointing out several relevant references on magnetized spherical Couette flow and for helpful suggestions on how to restructure and sharpen parts of the presentation.