Nonradial g-mode oscillations in X-ray bursting neutron stars

Journal Article · Wed Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1987 · Astrophys. J.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1086/165366· OSTI ID:6086474

Mcdermott, P N; Taam, R E

The oscillation spectrum of nonradial g-modes in X-ray bursting neutron stars has been studied. The pulsation periods are found to be sensitive to the envelope temperature and range from about 15 ms to about 50 ms for the l = 1 g(1) mode during the X-ray burst. From a quasi-adiabatic stability analysis it is likely that a spectrum of l-pole g-modes is unstable due to the epsilon-mechanism associated with rapid alpha captures. As the thermal structure of the envelope of the neutron star changes on time scales less than 0.2 s during the rise of the X-ray burst, the oscillations are expected to be quasi-coherent during this phase. The calculated period derivatives are large during the burst and are about 1 ms/s. The pulsations are short-lived and are most likely to be seen in the immediate vicinity of the burst peak. Finally, the possible relevance of nonradial g-mode pulsations to the recently discovered quasi-periodic oscillations observed in a number of X-ray sources is discussed. 28 references.

• Research Organization: Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL
• OSTI ID: 6086474
• Journal Information: Astrophys. J.; (United States), Journal Name: Astrophys. J.; (United States) Vol. 318; ISSN ASJOA
• 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
COSMIC RAY SOURCES
COSMIC X-RAY SOURCES
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
IONIZING RADIATIONS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NEUTRON STARS
OSCILLATIONS
RADIATIONS
STAR MODELS
STARS
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
X RADIATION