2001/10/31 by Anna L. Watts, Anna. L. Watts, Nils Andersson +1 · 4 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Accretion (finance) #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Gravitational wave #High-pressure geophysics and materials #Instability #Magnetar #Mechanics #Neutron star #Physics #Pulsar #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Seismic Waves and Analysis #Spin (aerodynamics) #Stars #Supernova #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1046/j.1365-8711.2002.05475.x
published as Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc. 333 (2002) 943 · 10 pages,5 figures, minor changes. Accepted by MNRAS
arxiv created 2002/03/06 · openalex publication_date 2002/07/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The loss of angular momentum owing to unstable r-modes in hot young neutron stars has been proposed as a mechanism for achieving the spin rates inferred for young pulsars. One factor that could have a significant effect on the action of the r-mode instability is fallback of supernova remnant material. The associated accretion torque could potentially counteract any gravitational-wave-induced spin-down, and accretion heating could affect the viscous damping rates and hence the instability. We discuss the effects of various external agents on the r-mode instability scenario within a simple model of supernova fallback on to a hot young magnetized neutron star. We find that the outcome depends strongly on the strength of the magnetic field of the star. Our model is capable of generating spin rates for young neutron stars that accord well with initial spin rates inferred from pulsar observations. The combined action of r-mode instability and fallback appears to cause the spin rates of neutron stars born with very different spin rates to converge, on a time-scale of approximately 1 year. The results suggest that stars with magnetic fields ≤1013 G could emit a detectable gravitational wave signal for perhaps several years after the supernova event. Stars with higher fields (magnetars) are unlikely to emit a detectable gravitational wave signal via the r-mode instability. The model also suggests that the r-mode instability could be extremely effective in preventing young neutron stars from going dynamically unstable to the bar-mode.