Differential rotation and r-modes in magnetized neutron stars

TL;DR

This paper revises previous claims about r-modes in magnetized neutron stars, showing that secular drift can be avoided and magnetic field enhancement is limited, thus not suppressing r-mode instability.

Contribution

It presents a specific non-drifting second order r-mode solution and demonstrates that magnetic field enhancement due to drift is limited, challenging prior assumptions.

Findings

A non-drifting second order r-mode solution is constructed.

Magnetic field enhancement from drift is limited by initial differential rotation energy.

Drift does not necessarily lead to magnetic field suppression of r-modes.

Abstract

Rezzolla et al. [ApJ 531 (2000), L139; Phys. Rev. D 64 (2001), 104013; Phys. Rev. D 64 (2001), 104014] draw attention to the second order secular drift associated with r-modes and claimed that it should lead to magnetic field enhancement and suppression of r-mode instability in magnetized neutron stars. We critically revise these results. We present a particular second order r-mode solution with vanishing secular drift, thus refuting a widely believed statement that secular drift is an unavoidable feature of r-modes. This non-drifting solution is not affected by magnetic field $B$, if $B\ll B_{\mathrm{crit}}\approx 10^{17}\,(\nu/600\,\mathrm{Hz})$ G ($\nu$ is a spin frequency) and does not lead to secular evolution of magnetic field. For general second order r-mode solution the drift does not necessarily vanish, but the solution can be presented as a superposition of two solutions: one describes evolution of differential rotation in nonoscillating star (which describes secular drift; for nonmagnetized star it is arbitrary stationary rotation stratified on cylinders; for magnetized star differential rotation evolves on the Alfv\'{e}n timescale and may lead to magnetic energy enhancement), and another one is non-drifting r-mode solution mentioned above. This representation allows us to conclude that enhancement of magnetic field energy is limited by initial energy of differential rotation, which is much less (for a factor $\propto \alpha^2$, where $\alpha$ is mode amplitude) than the total energy of r-mode. Hence, magnetic field enhancement by drift cannot suppress r-mode instability. Results can be generalized for any oscillation mode in any medium, if this mode has non-drifting solution for $B=0$.