Proton acceleration in neutron star magnetospheres

Conference · Fri Apr 05 04:00:00 EST 1991 · AIP Conference Proceedings (American Institute of Physics); (United States)

OSTI ID:5541352

Smith, I A; Katz, J I ^[1]; Diamond, P H ^[2]

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1. Washington University, Dept. Physics, Campus Box 1105, St. Louis, MO 63130 (USA)
2. U.C.S.D., Dept. Physics, B-019, La Jolla, CA 92093 (USA)

To explain the emission of TeV and PeV gamma-rays from accreting X-ray binary sources, protons must be accelerated to several times the gamma-ray energy. It was proposed that protons could be accelerated to these energies in the outer regions of a neutron star's closed magnetosphere. We show here, that at certain times, the plasma in the accretion column of the neturon star may form a deep enough pool that the top portion becomes unstable to convective motions in spite of the strong magnetic field. The resulting turbulence produces fluctuations to the strength of the magnetic field that travel up the accretion column, taking energy out to the region of the energetic protons. The protons resonantly absorb this energy, and are accelerated to high energies. Including the synchrotron radiation losses of the protons, we have found that they can be accelerated to energies that are high enough to explain the gamma-ray observations.

• OSTI ID: 5541352
• Report Number(s): CONF-9010289--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: AIP Conference Proceedings (American Institute of Physics); (United States) Journal Volume: 220:1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640102* -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Stars & Quasi-Stellar
Radio & X-Ray Sources
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ACCELERATION
ATMOSPHERES
BARYONS
BINARY STARS
COSMIC PROTONS
COSMIC RADIATION
COSMIC RAY SOURCES
COSMIC X-RAY SOURCES
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
FERMIONS
GAMMA RADIATION
HADRONS
IONIZING RADIATIONS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
NEUTRON STARS
NUCLEONS
PLASMA ACCELERATION
PLASMA WAVES
PROTONS
RADIATIONS
STARS
STELLAR ATMOSPHERES
STELLAR MAGNETOSPHERES
TURBULENCE