Magnetic field evolution in magnetar crusts through three-dimensional simulations.

Current models of magnetars require extremely strong magnetic fields to explain their observed quiescent and bursting emission, implying that the field strength within the star's outer crust is orders of magnitude larger than the dipole component inferred from spin-down measurements. This presents a serious challenge to theories of magnetic field generation in a proto-neutron star. Here, we present detailed modeling of the evolution of the magnetic field in the crust of a neutron star through 3D simulations.

Hall attractor in axially symmetric magnetic fields in neutron star crusts.

We find an attractor for an axially symmetric magnetic field evolving under the Hall effect and subdominant Ohmic dissipation, resolving the question of the long-term fate of the magnetic field in neutron star crusts. The electron fluid is in isorotation, analogous to Ferraro's law, with its angular velocity being approximately proportional to the poloidal magnetic flux, Ω∝Ψ. This equilibrium is the long-term configuration of a magnetic field evolving because of the Hall effect and Ohmic dissipation.

An anti-glitch in a magnetar.

Magnetars are neutron stars with X-ray and soft γ-ray outbursts thought to be powered by intense internal magnetic fields. Like conventional neutron stars in the form of radio pulsars, magnetars exhibit 'glitches' during which angular momentum is believed to be transferred between the solid outer crust and the superfluid component of the inner crust. The several hundred observed glitches in radio pulsars and magnetars have involved a sudden spin-up (increase in the angular velocity) of the star, presumably because the interior superfluid was rotating faster than the crust.