2003/11/03 by Arnab Rai Choudhuri, Sushan Konar · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #astro-ph
published as Curr.Sci. 88 (2004) 444 · 11 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Current Science
arxiv created 2003/11/03 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
Millisecond pulsars, with magnetic fields weaker by three to four orders compared to those of ordinary pulsars, are presumed to be neutron stars spun up by binary accretion. We expect the magnetic field to get screened by the accreted material. Our simulation of this screening mechanism shows, for the first time, that the field decreases by a purely geometric factor sin-7/2 θ\rm P,i before freezing to an asymptotic value, where θ\rm P,i is the initial angular width of the polar cap. If θ\rm P,i lies in the range 5o--10o, then the magnetic field diminution factor turns out to be ∼ 103--104 in conformity with observational data.