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ABSTRACT Strongly magnetized neutron stars are popular candidates for producing detectable electromagnetic and gravitational-wave signals. Gravitational collapses of neutron stars triggered by a phase transition from hadrons to deconfined quarks in the cores could also release a considerable amount of energy in the form of gravitational waves and neutrinos. Hence, the formation of a magnetized hybrid star from such a phase-transition-induced collapse is an interesting scenario for detecting all these signals. These detections may provide essential probes for the magnetic field and composition of such stars. Thus far, a dynamical study of the formation of a magnetized hybrid star from a phase-transition-induced collapse has yet to be realized. Here, we investigate the formation of a magnetized hybrid star with a purely toroidal field and its properties through dynamical simulations. We find that the maximum values of rest-mass density and magnetic field strength increase slightly and these two quantities are coupled in phase during the formation. We then demonstrate that all microscopic and macroscopic quantities of the resulting hybrid star vary drastically when the maximum magnetic field strength goes beyond a threshold of $$\sim 5 \times 10^{17}$$ G, but they are insensitive to the magnetic field below this threshold. Specifically, the magnetic deformation makes the rest-mass density drop significantly, suppressing the matter fraction in the mixed phase. These behaviours agree with those in the equilibrium models of previous studies. Therefore, this work provides a solid support for the magnetic effects on a hybrid star.
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Long-term general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics simulations of magnetic field in isolated neutron stars
ABSTRACT Strong magnetic fields play an important role in powering the emission of neutron stars. Nevertheless, a full understanding of the interior configuration of the field remains elusive. In this work, we present general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulations of the magnetic field evolution in neutron stars lasting $${\sim } {880}\,$$ms (∼6.5 Alfvén crossing periods) and up to resolutions of $$0.1155\,$$km using Athena++. We explore two different initial conditions, one with purely poloidal magnetic field and the other with a dominant toroidal component, and study the poloidal and toroidal field energies, the growth times of the various instability-driven oscillation modes, and turbulence. We find that the purely poloidal setup generates a toroidal field, which later decays exponentially reaching $$1{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$$ of the total magnetic energy, showing no evidence of reaching equilibrium. The initially stronger toroidal field setup, on the other hand, loses up to 20 per cent of toroidal energy and maintains this state till the end of our simulation. We also explore the hypothesis, drawn from previous MHD simulations, that turbulence plays an important role in the quasi-equilibrium state. An analysis of the spectra in our higher resolution setups reveals, however, that in most cases we are not observing turbulence at small scales, but rather a noisy velocity field inside the star. We also observe that the majority of the magnetic energy gets dissipated as heat increasing the internal energy of the star, while a small fraction gets radiated away as electromagnetic radiation.
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- PAR ID:
- 10363171
- Publisher / Repository:
- Oxford University Press
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Volume:
- 511
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 0035-8711
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- p. 3983-3993
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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