No description available.

This dissertation deals with the following topics related to the magnetic activity of neutron stars and black holes: (I) Magnetic field evolution of neutron stars: We develop a numerical code which models the internal magnetic field evolution of neutron stars in axisymmetry. Our code includes the Hall drift and Ohmic effects in the crust, and the drift of superconducting flux tubes and superfluid vortices inside the liquid core. We enforce the correct hydromagnetic equilibrium in the core. We also model the elastic deformation of the crust and its feedback on the magnetic field evolution. We find that (i) The Hall attractor found by Gourgouliatos and Cumming in the crust also exists for B-fields which penetrate the core. (ii) If the flux tube drift is fast in the core, the pulsar magnetic fields are depleted on the Ohmic timescale (~150 Myr for hot neutron stars, or ~1.8 Gyr for cold neutron stars such as recycled pulsars, depending on impurity levels). (iii) The outward motion of superfluid vortices during the rapid spin-down of a young highly magnetized pulsar, can partially expel magnetic flux from the core when 𝐵 ≲ 10¹³ G. (II) Neutron star quakes and glitches: We develop a theoretical model to explain the remarkable null pulse coincident with the 2016 glitch in Vela rotation. We propose that a crustal quake associated with the glitch strongly disturbed the Vela magnetosphere and thus interrupted its radio emission. We develop the first numerical code which models the global dynamics of a neutron star quake. Our code resolves the elasto-dynamics of the entire crust and follows the evolution of Alfven waves excited in the magnetosphere. We find that Alfven waves launched by the quake become de-phased in the magnetosphere, and generate strong electric currents, capable of igniting electric discharge. Most likely, the discharge floods the magnetosphere with electron-positron plasma, quenching the pulsar radio emission. The observed ~0.2 s duration of the disturbance indicates that the crust is magnetically coupled to the superconducting core of the neutron star. (III) Pulsar magnetospheres and radio emission: We present an extreme high resolution kinetic plasma simulation of a pulsar magnetosphere using the Pigeon code. The simulation shows from first-principles how and where radio emission can be produced in pulsar magnetospheres. We observe the self-consistent formation of electric gaps which periodically ignite electron-positron discharge. The gaps form above the polar-cap, and in the bulk return-current. Discharge of the gaps excites electromagnetic modes which share several features with the radio emission of real pulsars. We also observe the excitation of plasma waves and charge bunches by streaming instabilities in the outer magnetosphere. (IV) Black hole magnetospheres and no-hair theorem: We explore the evolution of highly magnetized magnetospheres on Kerr black holes by performing general relativistic kinetic plasma simulations with the GRZeltron code, and general relativistic resistive magnetohydrodynamics simulations with the BHAC code. We show that a dipole magnetic field on the event horizon opens into a split-monopole and reconnects in a plasmoid-unstable current-sheet. The plasmoids are ejected from the magnetosphere, or swallowed by the black hole. The no-hair theorem is satisfied, in the sense that all components of the stress-energy tensor decay exponentially in time. We measure the decay time of magnetic flux on the event horizon for plasmoid-dominated reconnection in collisionless and collisional plasma.

We show our work to refine the process of evolutions in general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics. We investigate several areas in order to improve the overall accuracy of our results. We test several versions of conversion methodologies between different sets of variables. We compare both single equation and two equations solvers to do the conversion. We find no significant improvement for multiple equation conversion solvers when compared to single equation solvers. We also investigate the construction of initial data and the conversion of coordinate systems between initial data code and evolution code. In addition to the conversion work, we have improved some methodologies to ensure data integrity when moving data from the initial data code to the evolution code. Additionally we add into the system of MHD equations a new field to help control the no monopole constraint. We perform a characteristic decomposition of the system of equations in order to derive the associated boundary condition for this new field. Finally, we implement a WENO (weighted non-oscillatory) system. This is done so we can evolve and track shocks that are generated during an evolution of our GRMHD equations.

No description available.

In this study, we analyse the $\Lambda$-$\Lambda$ hyperon channel in proton-proton scattering, $pp \mapsto \Lambda\Lambda + K^+K^+, \,\,\Lambda\mapsto p+\pi^-$, with a proton beam energy of $4.5$ GeV using the High Acceptance Di-Electron Spectrometer (HADES) at GSI.The purpose of the study presented here is to measure the production cross-section for the $\Lambda$-$\Lambda$ channel. %at the above beam Kinetic energy. The following measurement will be the first at this energy scale (CoM: $\sqrt{s}=3.46$ GeV).We develop a multi-stage analysis strategy to first determine the acceptance-reconstruction efficiency for the $\Lambda$-$\Lambda$ channel from simulations produced according to phase space.The analysis of data is perforned for three different event selections: inclusive ($ pp \mapsto \Lambda\Lambda + X$), semi-exclusive ($ pp \mapsto \Lambda\Lambda + K^+ +X$) and the fully exclusive.For each selection, the data is represented by a two-dimensional histogram, where the axes correspond to the $p+\pi^-$ invariant mass of the respective $\Lambda$ candidate. %The same strategy was employed on the experimental data to build a $\Lambda$-$\Lambda$ 2D correlation matrix. The \sloppy{$\Lambda$-$\Lambda$ signal} is determined using a Statistical sideband analysis (SSB) and a Linear least squares (LLS) fit.The inclusive selection provides the most significant $\Lambda$-$\Lambda$ signal.Cross-section values corresponding to the two analyses  are calculated as weighted average of the result of the three selections.The production cross-section for $\Lambda$-$\Lambda$ in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=3.46$ GeV is measured \sloppy{to be $59\pm27$ nb} (one standard deviation uncertainity).

The astrophysical origins of the rapid neutron-capture process (r-process), which gives rise to roughly half of the elements heavier than iron, has remained a mystery for almost 70 years. The likely violent events, which seed the r-process abundances in our solar system and galaxy, remain uncertain to this day. This is in part due to nuclear physics uncertainties associated with the r-process itself, but mainly due to uncertainties in astrophysics modeling. The discovery of the radioactively-powered kilonova emission from the neutron star merger event GW170817 confirmed the violent deaths of neutron stars as one key site of the r-process in the universe. However, other evidence appears to favor an additional r-process channel that more promptly follows star formation in the universe, such as core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe), i.e. the brilliant births of neutron stars. The two viable sites for the r-process are (1) core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe), which are explosions of massive stars at the end of their lives and (2) compact object mergers, which are violent collisions of stellar remnants formed at the endpoints of stellar evolution. Chapters 2 and 3 of this dissertation present general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations of one potential r-process site associated with CCSNe: the neutrino-driven wind. These outflows are launched from the hot proto-neutron star (PNS) remnant by neutrino-heating above their surfaces, within seconds after the collapse of a massive star. However, previous work has shown that spherically symmetric winds from non-rotating PNS fail to achieve the requisite conditions for a robust r-process. Chapter 2 explores for the first time the combined effects of rapid rotation and strong gravity of the PNS on the wind properties. Chapter 3 explores the impact of a dynamically strong ordered magnetic field on the properties of non-rotating PNS winds. The wind in both cases is simulated in a controlled environment rather than as a part of a self-consistent global CCSNe simulation, to assess the viability of r-process nucleosynthesis as a function of PNS properties (neutrino energies/luminosities, rotation rate, magnetization). We find that rapid rotation allows for outflows that are ~10% more neutron-rich in the equatorial region, where the mass loss rate is roughly an order of magnitude higher than that of otherwise equivalent non-rotating models. The birth of very rapidly spinning neutron stars may thus be a site for the production of light r-process nuclei (38 < Z < 47). For PNSs with sufficiently strong magnetic fields (such that magnetic pressure exceeds gas pressure above the PNS surface), we find that equatorial outflows are trapped by the magnetic field in a region near the surface, and therefore receive additional neutrino heating relative to a freely-expanding unmagnetized wind. This allows a modest fraction of the wind material to achieves entropies high enough to synthesize 2nd peak r-process elements via an alpha-rich freeze-out mechanism. The final chapter explores the interplay between the r-process and the dynamics of compact object merger ejecta. Gravitational wave observatories are expected to detect several additional binary neutron star (BNS) and black hole-neutron star (BHNS) mergers in current and future observing runs, some of which may be accompanied by electromagnetic counterparts such as kilonovae. However, distinguishing more distant BNS from BHNS mergers based on their associated gamma-ray bursts (GRB), has proven tricky. This chapter presents a calculation of the effects of r-process heating on the dynamics of tidal ejecta from BNS and BHNS mergers. In particular we explore whether late-time fall-back of weakly bound debris created during the merger to the central black hole remnant, can explain the temporally extended X-ray emission observed following several merger GRB on timescales of several seconds to minutes. As a result of the different impact that r-process heating has depending on the composition of the ejecta and the mass of the black hole, a method to differentiate BHNS from BNS mergers, based on their extended X-ray emission, is proposed.

This thesis is concerned with effects of spin polarization in neutron stars. In particular, we focus on static and dynamic properties of dense neutron matter. We use two different kind of potential to perform our studies: the phenomenological two-body Argonne V$8$' potential plus the three-body Urbana IX force and a modern local version of chiral effective potential up to next-to-next-to-leading order (N$2$LO). Estimates are calculated for the neutrino mean free path in partially spin-polarized neutron matter starting from Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations and using mean-field approaches to compute the response function in the longitudinal and transverse channel. We also compute magnetic susceptibility of dense neutron matter from accurate QMC calculations of partially spin-polarized systems. Twist-averaged boundary conditions (TABC) have been implemented to reduce finite-size effects. In the results, we also account for the theoretical uncertainty coming from the chiral expansion scheme. These results may play a role in studying high-energy phenomena such as neutron star mergers and supernova explosions, although they have been computed only at T$=0$ K.

We will consider the scenario of the co-rotation of a fluid star (in specific, a neutron star) and a black hole. The neutron star (or primary)is assumed to have constant angular velocity. The tidal effects on the primary are investigated. First, the centrally condensed approximation is applied, where both bodies are considered as point sources. In the second treatment, the primary is treated as an incompressible and homogeneous fluid mass, which in addition to its own gravity is subject to centrifugal and Coriolis forces, derived from fluid motions. The black hole (or secondary) is treated as a rigid sphere and can be regarded as a point mass. The equilibrium figure is derived. The problem is then adapted to include vorticity and a pseudo-Newtonian potential. The coalescence of neutron star - black hole binaries and their importance to gravitational wave detection is also discussed. / Mathematical Sciences / M. Sc. (Applied Mathematics)

Thesis (MSc (Physics))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / Nuclear physics can be applied in various ways to the study of neutron stars. This thesis reports on one such application, where the relativistic mean-field approximation has been employed to calculate the equations of state of matter in the neutron star interior. In particular the equations of state of nuclear and neutron star matter of the NL3, PK1 and FSUGold parameter sets were derived. A survey of available literature on neutron stars is presented and we use the derived equations of state to reproduce the properties of saturated nuclear matter as well as the mass-radius relationship of a static, spherical symmetric neutron star. Results are compared to published values of the properties of saturated nuclear matter and to available observational data of the mass-radius relationship of neutron stars.

<p>When modelling the collapse of massive stars leading to supernova explosions and the cooling of neutron stars, understanding the microphysical processes, such as the interaction of neutrinos within a dense medium are of vital importance. The interaction of neutrinos with nucleons (neutrons and protons) is altered by the presence of the medium, compared to the same process with free nucleons. Neutrino scattering and production processes may be characterized in terms of the excitations that are created or destroyed in the nuclear medium. One way to analyse the effects of the medium is by using Landau's theory of normal Fermi liquids. This theory gives simple relationships between physical quantities such as the spin susceptibility or the response to a weak interaction probe in terms of Landau parameters, that are measures of the interaction between quasiparticles. One problem when using Landau Fermi liquid theory for nucleon matter is that the interaction has a tensor component. The tensor interaction does not conserve the total spin and, as a consequence, there are generally contributions to long-wavelength response functions from states that have more than one quasiparticle-quasihole pair in the intermediate state. Such contributions cannot be calculated in terms of Landau parameters alone, since in the usual formulation of Landau theory, only singlepair excitations are considered. In this thesis three problems are addressed. First, we obtain bounds on the contributions from more than one quasiparticle-quasihole pair by using sum-rule arguments. Second, we derive expressions for static response functions allowing for the tensor components of the interaction. We analyse which the most important effects are on the static response of nucleon matter, and find that the major contributions comes from renormalization of coupling constants and transitions to states with more than one quasiparticle-quasihole pair. Third, we show how contributions to the dynamical response coming from states containing two quasiparticle-quasihole pairs may be evaluated in terms of Landau theory if one allows for the effect of collisions in the Landau kinetic equation. We consider the case of asymmetric nuclear matter, and our work goes beyond earlier works in that they contain the effects of collisions in addition to those of the mean field.</p>