Magnetic collapse of a neutron gas: Can magnetars indeed be formed?

A relativistic degenerate neutron gas in equilibrium with a background of electrons and protons in a magnetic field exerts its pressure anisotropically, having a smaller value perpendicular to than along the magnetic field. For critical fields the magnetic pressure may produce the vanishing of the e...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields Particles and fields, 2003-07, Vol.29 (1), p.111-123
Main Authors: Martínez, A. Pérez, Rojas, H. Pérez, Cuesta, H. J. Mosquera
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Black holes
Collapse
Explosions
Magnetars
Magnetic fields
Neutron stars
Neutrons
Nucleons
Pulsars
Quarks
Stars
Stellar magnetic fields
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Summary:A relativistic degenerate neutron gas in equilibrium with a background of electrons and protons in a magnetic field exerts its pressure anisotropically, having a smaller value perpendicular to than along the magnetic field. For critical fields the magnetic pressure may produce the vanishing of the equatorial pressure of the neutron gas. Taking this as a model for neutron stars, the outcome could be a transverse collapse of the star. This fixes a limit to the fields to be observable in stable neutron star pulsars as a function of their density. The final structure left over after the implosion might be a mixed phase of nucleons and a meson condensate, a strange star, or a highly distorted black hole or black ”cigar”, but not a magnetar, if viewed as a superstrongly magnetized neutron star. However, we do not exclude the possibility of superstrong magnetic fields arising in supernova explosions which lead directly to strange stars. In other words, if any magnetars exist, they cannot be neutron stars.
ISSN:1434-6044
1434-6052
DOI:10.1140/epjc/s2003-01192-6