General relativistic radiation magnetohydrodynamics simulations of supercritical accretion onto magnetized neutron star; -modeling of ultra luminous x-ray pulsars

TL;DR

This study uses advanced simulations to explore supercritical accretion onto magnetized neutron stars, revealing the structure of accretion flows and their role in powering ultra luminous X-ray pulsars.

Contribution

First 2.5D general relativistic radiation MHD simulations of supercritical accretion onto magnetized neutron stars, elucidating accretion flow structure and spin-up mechanisms.

Findings

Accretion flow consists of truncated disk and accretion columns.

Magnetic pressure balances radiation pressure at truncation radius.

Simulated spin-up rate matches observations of ultra luminous X-ray pulsars.

Abstract

By performing 2.5-dimensional general relativistic radiation magnetohydrodynamic simulations, we demonstrate supercritical accretion onto a non-rotating, magnetized neutron star, where the magnetic field strength of dipole fields is $10^{10}$ G on the star surface. We found the supercritical accretion flow consists of two parts; the accretion columns and the truncated accretion disk. The supercritical accretion disk, which appears far from the neutron star, is truncated at around $\sim 3R_*$ ($R_*=10^6$ cm is the neutron star radius), where the magnetic pressure via the dipole magnetic fields balances with the radiation pressure of the disks. The angular momentum of the disk around the truncation radius is effectively transported inward through magnetic torque by dipole fields, inducing the spin up of a neutron star. The evaluated spin up rate, $\sim -10^{-11}$ s s$^{-1}$, is consistent with the recent observations of the ultra luminous X-ray pulsars. Within the truncation radius, the gas falls onto neutron star along dipole fields, which results in a formation of accretion columns onto north and south hemispheres. The net accretion rate and the luminosity of the column are $\sim 66L_{\rm Edd}/c^2$ and $\lesssim 10L_{\rm Edd}$, where $L_{\rm Edd}$ is the Eddington luminosity and c is the light speed. Our simulations support a hypothesis whereby the ultra luminous X-ray pulsars are powered by the supercritical accretion onto the magnetized neutron stars.