The gravitational mass, equatorial radius and rotational
period of the maximum mass model constructed with one of the
softest EOSs (EOS B) (, 9.3km, 0.4ms) are a factor of two smaller than the mass,
radius and period of the corresponding model constructed by one
of the stiffest EOSs (EOS L) (
, 18.3km, 0.8ms). The two models differ by a factor of 5 in
central energy density and a factor of 8 in the moment of
inertia!
Not all properties of the maximum mass models between proposed
EOSs differ considerably. For example, most realistic EOSs
predict a maximum mass model with a ratio of rotational to
gravitational energy
T
/
W
of
, a dimensionless angular momentum
of
and an eccentricity of
, [1
]. Hence, between the set of realistic EOSs, some properties are
directly related to the stiffness of the EOS while other
properties are rather insensitive to stiffness.
Compared to nonrotating stars, the effect of rotation is to
increase the equatorial radius of the star and also to increase
the mass that can be sustained at a given central energy density.
As a result, the mass of the maximum mass rotating model is
roughly
higher than the mass of the maximum mass nonrotating model, for
typical realistic EOSs. The corresponding increase in radius is
.
The deformed shape of a rapidly rotating star creates a
distortion, away from spherical symmetry, in its gravitational
field. Far from the star, the distortion is measured by the
quadrupole-moment tensor
. For uniformly rotating, axisymmetric and equatorially
symmetric configurations, one can define a scalar quadrupole
moment
Q, which can be extracted from the asymptotic expansion, at large
r, of the metric function
.
Laarakkers and Poisson [54], numerically compute the scalar quadrupole moment Q for several equations of state, using the rotating neutron star code rns [43]. They find that, for fixed gravitational mass M, the quadrupole moment is given as a simple quadratic fit
where
J
is the angular momentum of the star, and
a
is a dimensionless quantity that depends on the equation of
state. The above quadratic fit reproduces
Q
with a remarkable accuracy. The quantity
a
varies between
for very soft EOSs and
for very stiff EOSs, for
neutron stars.
For a given zero-temperature EOS, the uniformly rotating
equilibrium models form a 2-dimensional surface in the
3-dimensional space of central energy density, gravitational mass
and angular momentum [41]. The surface is limited by the nonrotating models (J
=0) and by the models rotating at the mass-shedding (Kepler)
limit, i.e. at the maximum allowed angular velocity so that the
star does not shed mass at the equator. Cook et al. [38
,
39
,
40
] have shown that the model with maximum angular velocity does
not coincide with the maximum mass model, but is generally very
close to it in central density and mass. Stergioulas and Friedman
[41
] show that the maximum angular velocity and maximum baryon mass
equilibrium models are also distinct. The distinction becomes
significant in the case where the EOS has a large phase
transition near the central density of the maximum mass model,
otherwise the models of maximum mass, baryon mass, angular
velocity and angular momentum can be considered to coincide for
most purposes.
gives the maximum angular velocity in terms of the mass and
radius of the maximum mass
nonrotating
model with an accuracy of
, without actually having to construct rotating models.
The empirical formula results from universal proportionality relations that exist between the mass and radius of the maximum mass rotating model and those of the maximum mass nonrotating model for the same EOS. Lasota et al. [57] find that, for most EOSs, the coefficient in the empirical formula is an almost linear function of the parameter
When this relation is taken into account in the empirical
formula, it reproduces the exact values with a relative error of
only
.
Weber and Glendenning [30,
32] try to reproduce analytically the empirical formula in the slow
rotation approximation, but the formula they obtain involves the
mass and radius of the maximum mass rotating configuration, which
is different from what is involved in (14).
In principle, neutron stars with maximum mass or minimum
period could exist, if they are born as such in a core collapse,
or if they accrete the right amount of matter and angular
momentum during an accretion-induced spin-up phase. Such a phase
could also follow the creation of an
neutron star during the accretion induced collapse of a white
dwarf.
In reality, only a very small fraction, if any, of neutron stars will be close to the maximum mass or minimum period limit. In addition, rapidly rotating nascent neutron stars are subject to a nonaxisymmetric instability, which lowers their initial rotation rate and neutron stars with a strong magnetic field have their rotation rate limited by the Kepler velocity at their Alfven radius, where the accretion pressure balances the magnetospheric pressure [7].
Instead of using realistic EOSs, one constructs a set of artificial EOSs that satisfy only a minimal set of physical constraints, which represent what we know about the equation of state of matter with high confidence. One then searches among all these EOSs to obtain the one that gives the maximum mass or minimum period. The minimal set of constraints that have been used in such searches is:
(see e.g. Geroch and Lindblom [61]). It is assumed that the fluid will still behave as a perfect fluid when it is perturbed from equilibrium.
For nonrotating stars, Rhoades and Ruffini showed that the EOS
that satisfies the above two constraints and yields the maximum
mass consists of a high density region as stiff as possible (i.e.
at the causal limit,
), that matches directly to the known low density EOS. For a
chosen matching density
, they computed a maximum mass of
. However, this is not the theoretically maximum mass of
nonrotating neutron stars, as is often quoted in the literature.
Hartle and Sabbadini [62] point out that
is sensitive to the matching energy density, and Hartle [63] computes
as a function of
.
In the case of rotating stars, Friedman and Ipser [64] assume that the absolute maximum mass is obtained by the same
EOS as in the nonrotating case and compute
as a function of matching density, assuming the BPS EOS holds at
low densities. Stergioulas and Friedman [41] recompute
for rotating stars using the more recent FPS EOS at low
densities, obtaining very nearly the same result
where,
is roughly nuclear saturation density for the FPS EOS.
A first estimate of the absolute minimum period of uniformly
rotating, gravitationally bound stars was computed by Glendenning
[65] by constructing nonrotating models and using the empirical
formula (14) to estimate the minimum period. Koranda, Stergioulas and
Friedman [66
] improve on Glendenning's results by constructing accurate
rapidly rotating models and show that Glendenning's results are
accurate to within the accuracy of the empirical formula.
Furthermore, they show that the EOS satisfying the minimal set of constraints and yielding the minimum period star consists of a high density region at the causal limit, which is matched to the known low density EOS through an intermediate constant pressure region (that would correspond to a first-order phase transition). Thus, the EOS yielding absolute minimum period models is as stiff as possible at the central density of the star (to sustain a large enough mass) and as soft as possible in the crust, in order to have the smallest possible radius (and rotational period).
The absolute minimum period of uniformly rotating stars is an (almost linear) function of the maximum observed mass of nonrotating neutron stars
and is rather insensitive to the matching density
(the above result was computed for a matching number density of
).
In [66], it is also shown that an absolute limit on the minimum period
exists even without requiring that the EOS matches to a known low
density EOS (This is not true for the limit on the maximum
mass.). Thus, using causality as the only constraint on the EOS,
is lowered by only
, which shows that the currently known part of the nuclear EOS
plays a negligible role in determining the absolute upper limit
on the rotation of uniformly rotating, gravitationally bound
stars.
Cook et al. [38,
39,
40] have discovered that a supramassive star approaching the
axisymmetric instability will actually spin-up before collapse,
even though it loses angular momentum. This, potentially
observable, effect is independent of the equations of state, and
it is more pronounced for rapidly rotating massive stars. In a
similar phenomenon, normal stars can spin-up by loss of angular
momentum near the Kepler limit, if the equation of state is
extremely stiff or extremely soft.
A magnetized relativistic star in equilibrium can be described
by the coupled Einstein-Maxwell field equations for stationary,
axisymmetric rotating objects with internal electric currents.
The stress-energy tensor includes the electromagnetic energy
density and is non-isotropic (in contrast to the isotropic
perfect fluid stress- energy tensor). The equilibrium of the
matter is given not only by the balance between the gravitational
force and the pressure gradient, but the Lorentz force due to the
electric currents also enters the balance. For simplicity,
Bocquet et al. consider only poloidal magnetic fields, which
preserve the circularity of the space-time. Also, they only
consider stationary configurations, which excludes magnetic
dipole moments non-aligned with the rotation axis, since in that
case the star emits electromagnetic and gravitational waves. The
assumption of stationarity implies that the fluid is necessarily
rigidly rotating (if the matter has infinite conductivity) [25]. Under these assumptions, the electromagnetic field tensor
is derived from a potential 1-form
with only two non-vanishing components,
and
, which are given by a scalar Poisson and a vector Poisson
equation respectively. Thus, the two equations describing the
electromagnetic field are of similar type as the four field
equations that describe the gravitational field.
The construction of magnetized models with
G confirms that magnetic fields of this strength have a
negligible effect on the structure of the star. However, if one
increases the strength of the magnetic field above
G, one observes significant effects, such as a flattening of the
star. The magnetic field cannot be increased indefinitely, but
there exists a maximum value of the magnetic field strength, of
the order of
G, for which the magnetic field pressure at the center of the
star equals the fluid pressure. Above this value, the fluid
pressure decreases more rapidly away from the center along the
symmetry axis than the magnetic pressure. Instead of pressure,
there is tension along the symmetry axis and no stationary
configuration can exist.
The shape of a strongly magnetized star is flattened because
the Lorentz forces exerted by the E/M field on the fluid act as
centrifugal forces. A star with a magnetic field near the maximum
value for stationary configurations displays a pinch along the
symmetry axis because there, the magnetic pressure exceeds the
fluid pressure. The maximum fluid density inside the star is not
attained at the center, but away from it. The presence of a
strong magnetic field also allows a maximum mass configuration
with larger
than for the same EOS with no magnetic field; this is in analogy
with the increase of
induced by rotation. For nonrotating stars, the increase in
, due to a strong magnetic field, is
, depending on the EOS. Following the increase in mass, the
maximum allowed angular velocity for a given EOS also increases
in the presence of a magnetic field.
Bocquet et al. are planning to use their code in the study of two types of possible instabilities in magnetized neutron stars: i) a pure E/M instability towards another electric current/magnetic field distribution of lower energy, and ii) a nonaxisymmetric instability for rapidly rotating models, which would be the analog of a Jacobi-type transition in non-magnetized stars. In perfect fluid models with a magnetic field, one would also expect a CFS-instability driven by electromagnetic waves.
Hashimoto et al. [68] and Goussard et al. [69
] recently constructed fully relativistic models of rapidly
rotating, hot proto-neutron stars. The authors use
finite-temperature EOSs [70
,
71] to model the interior of PNSs. Important parameters, which
determine the local state of matter but are largely unknown, are
the lepton fraction
and the temperature profile. Hashimoto et al. consider only the
limiting case of zero lepton fraction
and classical isothermality, while Goussard et al. consider
several non-zero values for
and two different limiting temperature profiles - a constant
entropy profile and a relativistic isothermal profile. In both [68
] and [70], differential rotation is neglected to a first
approximation.
The construction of numerical models with the above
assumptions shows that, due to the high temperature and the
presence of trapped neutrinos, PNSs have a significantly larger
radius than cold NSs. These two effects give the PNS an extended
envelope which, however, contains only roughly
of the total mass of the star. This outer layer cools more
rapidly than the interior and becomes transparent to neutrinos,
while the core of the star remains hot and neutrino opaque for a
longer time. The two regions are separated by the ``neutrino
sphere''.
Compared to the
T
=0 case, an isothermal EOS with temperature of 25MeV has a
maximum mass model of only slightly larger mass. In contrast, an
isentropic EOS with a nonzero trapped lepton number features a
maximum mass model that has a considerably lower mass than the
corresponding model in the
T
=0 case, and a stable PNS transforms to a stable neutron star.
If, however, one considers the hypothetical case of a large
amplitude phase transition which softens the cold EOS (such as a
Kaon condensate), then
of cold neutron stars is lower than
of PNSs, and a stable PNS with maximum mass will collapse to a
black hole after the initial cooling period. This scenario of
delayed collapse of nascent neutron stars has been proposed by
Brown and Bethe [12] and investigated by Baumgarte et al. [72].
An analysis of radial stability of PNSs [73] shows that, for hot PNSs, the maximum angular velocity star
almost coincides with the maximum mass star, as is also the case
for cold EOSs.
Because of their increased radius, PNSs have a different
mass-shedding limit than cold NSs. For an isothermal profile, the
mass-shedding limit proves to be sensitive to the exact location
of the neutrino sphere. For the EOSs considered in [68] and [69
] PNSs have a maximum angular velocity that is considerably less
than the maximum angular velocity allowed by the cold EOS. Stars
that have nonrotating counterparts (i.e. that belong to a normal
sequence) contract and speed up while they cool down. The final
star with maximum rotation is thus closer to the mass-shedding
limit of cold stars than was the hot PNS with maximum rotation.
Surprisingly, stars belonging to a supramassive sequence exhibit
the opposite behavior. If one assumes that a PNS evolves without
loosing angular momentum or accreting mass, then a cold neutron
star produced by the cooling of a hot PNS has a smaller angular
velocity than its progenitor. This purely relativistic effect was
pointed out in [68] and confirmed in [69
]. It should be noted here that a small amount of differential
rotation significantly affects the mass-shedding limit, allowing
more massive stars to exist than uniform rotation allows. Taking
differential rotation into account, a more recent study by
Goussard et al. [2] suggests that proto-neutron stars created in a gravitational
collapse cannot spin faster than 1.7 ms.
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Rotating Stars in Relativity
Nikolaos Stergioulas http://www.livingreviews.org/lrr-1998-8 © Max-Planck-Gesellschaft. ISSN 1433-8351 Problems/Comments to livrev@aei-potsdam.mpg.de |