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The Largest Magnetic Fields in the Universe
Friday, July 26, 2013 10:45
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An ultradense (“hypermassive”) neutron star is formed when two neutron stars in a binary system finally merge. Its short life ends with the catastrophic collapse to a black hole, possibly powering a short gamma-ray burst, one of the brightest explosions observed in the universe.
Short gamma-ray bursts as observed with satellites like XMM Newton, Fermi or Swift release within a second the same amount of energy as our galaxy in one year.
An instability triggered in the interior of a hypermassive neutron star can lead to gigantic magnetic fields before the star collapses to a black hole. Credit: Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics/D. Siegel
It has been speculated for a long time that enormous magnetic field strengths, possibly higher than what has been observed in any known astrophysical system, are a key ingredient in explaining such emission.
Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute/AEI) have now succeeded in simulating a mechanism which could produce such strong magnetic fields prior to the collapse to a black hole.
Journal reference: Physical Review D search and more info website
Provided by Max Planck Society
physorg.com
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Tell me again how neutrons, neutrally charged particles, can stick together without flying apart instantly? Nice try NASA.