Some comments on the electrodynamics of binary pulsars

Emanuele Sobacchi, Mario Vietri

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

We consider the electrodynamics of inspiralling binary pulsars, showing that there are two distinct ways in which they may emit radiation. On the one hand, even if the pulsars do not rotate, we show that in vacuo orbital rotation generates magnetic quadrupole emission, which, in the late stages of the binary evolution becomes nearly as effective as magnetic dipole emission by a millisecond pulsar. On the other hand, we show that interactions of the two magnetic fields generate powerful induction electric fields, which cannot be screened by a suitable distribution of charges and currents like they are in isolated pulsars. We compute approximate electromotive forces for this case.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2116-2121
Number of pages6
JournalMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume450
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 10 Apr 2015
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Binaries: close
  • Pulsars: general
  • Stars: neutron

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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