Von Zeipels theorem for a magnetized circular flow around a compact object

We analyze a class of physical properties, forming the content of the so-called von Zeipel theorem, which characterizes stationary, axisymmetric, non-selfgravitating perfect fluids in circular motion in the gravitational field of a compact object. Weconsider the extension of the theorem to the magnetohydrodynamic regime, under the assumption of an infinitely conductive fluid, both in the Newtonian and in the relativistic framework. When the magnetic field is toroidal, the conditions required by the theorem are equivalent to integrability conditions, as it is the case for purely hydrodynamic flows. When the magnetic field is poloidal, the analysis for the relativistic regime is substantially different with respect to the Newtonian case and additional constraints, in the form of PDEs, must be imposed on the magnetic field in order to guarantee that the angular velocity $Omega$ depends only on the specific angular momentum $ell$. In order to deduce such physical constraints, it is crucial to adopt special coordinates, which are adapted to the $Omega={rm const}$ surfaces. The physical significance of these results is briefly discussed.

General Relativistic Magnetospheres of Slowly Rotating and Oscillating Magnetized Neutron Stars

We study the magnetosphere of a slowly rotating magnetized neutron star subject to toroidal oscillations in the relativistic regime. Under the assumption of a zero inclination angle between the magnetic moment and the angular momentum of the star, weanalyze the Goldreich-Julian charge density and derive a second-order differential equation for the electrostatic potential. The analytical solution of this equation in the polar cap region of the magnetosphere shows the modification induced by stellar toroidal oscillations on the accelerating electric field and on the charge density. We also find that, after decomposing the oscillation velocity in terms of spherical harmonics, the first few modes with $m=0,1$ are responsible for energy losses that are almost linearly dependent on the amplitude of the oscillation and that, for the mode $(l,m)=(2,1)$, can be a factor $sim8$ larger than the rotational energy losses, even for a velocity oscillation amplitude at the star surface as small as $eta=0.05 Omega R$. The results obtained in this paper clarify the extent to which stellar oscillations are reflected in the time variation of the physical properties at the surface of the rotating neutron star, mainly by showing the existence of a relation between $Pdot{P}$ and the oscillation amplitude. Finally, we propose a qualitative model for the explanation of the phenomenology of intermittent pulsars in terms of stellar oscillations that are periodically excited by star glitches.

ECHO: an Eulerian Conservative High Order scheme for general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics and magnetodynamics

We present a new numerical code, ECHO, based on an Eulerian Conservative High Order scheme for time dependent three-dimensional general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics (GRMHD) and magnetodynamics (GRMD). ECHO is aimed at providing a shock-capturingconservative method able to work at an arbitrary level of formal accuracy (for smooth flows), where the other existing GRMHD and GRMD schemes yield an overall second order at most. Moreover, our goal is to present a general framework, based on the 3+1 Eulerian formalism, allowing for different sets of equations, different algorithms, and working in a generic space-time metric, so that ECHO may be easily coupled to any solver for Einsteins equations. Various high order reconstruction methods are implemented and a two-wave approximate Riemann solver is used. The induction equation is treated by adopting the Upwind Constrained Transport (UCT) procedures, appropriate to preserve the divergence-free condition of the magnetic field in shock-capturing methods. The limiting case of magnetodynamics (also known as force-free degenerate electrodynamics) is implemented by simply replacing the fluid velocity with the electromagnetic drift velocity and by neglecting the matter contribution to the stress tensor. ECHO is particularly accurate, efficient, versatile, and robust. It has been tested against several astrophysical applications, including a novel test on the propagation of large amplitude circularly polarized Alfven waves. In particular, we show that reconstruction based on a Monotonicity Preserving filter applied to a fixed 5-point stencil gives highly accurate results for smooth solutions, both in flat and curved metric (up to the nominal fifth order), while at the same time providing sharp profiles in tests involving discontinuities.