2009/03/31 by James Charbonneau, Ariel Zhitnitsky · 76 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Degenerate energy levels #Helicity #Magnetic field #Neutron #Neutron star #Parity (physics) #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions #Quantum chromodynamics #Topology (electrical circuits) #Toroid #astro-ph.HE #hep-ph #nucl-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/1475-7516/2010/08/010
published in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics 2010(08), 010 (Institute of Physics) · 49 pages, 6 figures; updated to match published version
openalex publication_date 2010/08/06 · arxiv created 2010/08/16 · arxiv updated 2010/08/18 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
The effects of anomalies in high density QCD are striking. We consider a direct application of one of these effects, namely topological currents, on the physics of neutron stars. All the elements required for topological currents are present in neutron stars: degenerate matter, large magnetic fields, and parity violating processes. These conditions lead to the creation of vector currents capable of carrying momentum and inducing magnetic fields. We estimate the size of these currents for many representative states of dense matter in the neutron star and argue that they could be responsible for the large proper motion of neutron stars (kicks), the toroidal magnetic field and finite magnetic helicity needed for stability of the poloidal field, and the resolution of the conflict between type-II superconductivity and precession. Though these observational effects appear unrelated, they likely originate from the same physics — they are all P-odd phenomena that stem from a topological current generated by parity violation.