Neutron star magnetic field decay: flux expulsion from the superconducting interior
Open Access
- 1 October 1987
- journal article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Vol. 228 (3) , 513-520
- https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/228.3.513
Abstract
The viscous force acting on a moving vortex in a proton type II superconductor has been calculated by application of Chambers' representation of the Boltzmann equation. Equilibrium between the buoyancy, Magnus and viscous forces defines a vortex drift velocity such that magnetic flux is expelled from the superconducting interior to the solid crust in less than 10 Myr, a time many orders of magnitude smaller than the previous consensus. Ohmic dissipation in the crust may then be the cause of the 5 Myr time constant seen in the decay of radio pulsar dipole moments. The longer time constant (≳ 103 Myr), for which some evidence exists, could be explained by a small central volume of a non-superconducting phase, such as a normal Fermi baryon liquid.Keywords
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