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Physical Sciences: New Source of Intense Magnetic Fields in Neutron Stars

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Abstract

RECENTLY there has been interest in the problem of intense magnetic fields (IMF) in gravitationally collapsed bodies1–6. In particular, the radio emission from neutron stars (pulsars) suggests strong magnetic fields of the order of 1012 G (refs. 5 and 7). According to the law of flux conservation, in a collapse process the magnetic fields strength increases as the square of the contracting factor a (> 1). If the initial magnetic field is of the order of 103 G (the field in sunspots) before collapse, then assuming contraction from a star of one solar radius ∼1011 cm to that of a neutron star of 106 cm, a field strength of 1013 G may be achieved. Magnetic fields in ordinary stars are usually attributed to non-equilibrium processes such as the existence of currents in the form of drifting charges, but we have recently shown that a new kind of quasi -equilibrium state exists, which possesses a uniform self-consistent magnetization8.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Space Studies, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA, New York, NY, 10025

    V. CANUTO, H. Y. CHIU & C. CHIUDERI

  2. Department of Physics, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York, 11973

    H. J. LEE

  3. Also with Physics Department and Earth and Space Sciences Department, State University of New York at Stony Brook,

    H. Y. CHIU

  4. the Physics Department of the City University of New York,

    H. Y. CHIU

  5. On leave from the University of Florence, Italy

    C. CHIUDERI

Authors
  1. V. CANUTO
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  2. H. Y. CHIU
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  3. C. CHIUDERI
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  4. H. J. LEE
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CANUTO, V., CHIU, H., CHIUDERI, C. et al. Physical Sciences: New Source of Intense Magnetic Fields in Neutron Stars. Nature 225, 47–48 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1038/225047a0

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