{
  "id": "0902.4484",
  "version": "v1",
  "published": "2009-02-25T23:19:37.000Z",
  "updated": "2009-02-25T23:19:37.000Z",
  "title": "Resistive relaxation of a magnetically confined mountain on an accreting neutron star",
  "authors": [
    "M. Vigelius",
    "A. Melatos"
  ],
  "comment": "accepted by MNRAS",
  "doi": "10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.14698.x",
  "categories": [
    "astro-ph.HE"
  ],
  "abstract": "Three-dimensional numerical magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations are performed to investigate how a magnetically confined mountain on an accreting neutron star relaxes resistively. No evidence is found for non-ideal MHD instabilities on a short time-scale, such as the resistive ballooning mode or the tearing mode. Instead, the mountain relaxes gradually as matter is transported across magnetic surfaces on the diffusion time-scale, which evaluates to $\\tau_\\mathrm{I} \\sim 10^5 - 10^8$ yr (depending on the conductivity of the neutron star crust) for an accreted mass of $M_a = 1.2 \\times 10^{-4} M_\\odot$. The magnetic dipole moment simultaneously reemerges as the screening currents dissipate over $\\tau_\\mathrm{I}$. For nonaxisymmetric mountains, ohmic dissipation tends to restore axisymmetry by magnetic reconnection at a filamentary neutral sheet in the equatorial plane. Ideal-MHD oscillations on the Alfv\\'{e}n time-scale, which can be excited by external influences, such as variations in the accretion torque, compress the magnetic field and hence decrease $\\tau_\\mathrm{I}$ by \\change{one order of magnitude} relative to its standard value (as computed for the static configuration). The implications of long-lived mountains for gravitational wave emission from low-mass X-ray binaries are briefly explored.",
  "revisions": [
    {
      "version": "v1",
      "updated": "2009-02-25T23:19:37.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "analyses": {
    "keywords": [
      "accreting neutron star",
      "magnetically confined mountain",
      "resistive relaxation",
      "neutron star relaxes",
      "magnetic dipole moment simultaneously reemerges"
    ],
    "tags": [
      "journal article"
    ],
    "publication": {
      "publisher": "Wiley-Blackwell",
      "journal": "Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society",
      "year": 2009,
      "month": "Jun",
      "volume": 395,
      "number": 4,
      "pages": 1985
    },
    "note": {
      "typesetting": "TeX",
      "pages": 0,
      "language": "en",
      "license": "arXiv",
      "status": "editable",
      "inspire": 814216,
      "adsabs": "2009MNRAS.395.1985V"
    }
  }
}