Astronomers Have Found a Strange Neutron Star That “Shouldn’t Exist”

Roughly 24,000 light-years away from Earth, in the constellation of Cassiopeia, is a dead star that shouldn’t exist. Not, that is, according to current theory. The neutron star, accreting material from a much larger binary companion, is spewing out relativistic jets.

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Tau.Neutrino said:

Astronomers Have Found a Strange Neutron Star That “Shouldn’t Exist”

Roughly 24,000 light-years away from Earth, in the constellation of Cassiopeia, is a dead star that shouldn’t exist. Not, that is, according to current theory. The neutron star, accreting material from a much larger binary companion, is spewing out relativistic jets.

more…

“The problem is that it also has a strong magnetic field. And relativistic jets have only been observed in neutron stars with magnetic fields 1,000 times weaker”.

Why wouldn’t you expect a relativistic jet from a star with a strong magnetic field?

> Jets are produced whenever matter falls onto a dense central object, from newly-forming stars to white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes. The one exception had been neutron stars with strong magnetic fields. This glaring absence led to the theory that they could be constrained by powerful magnetic fields.

I see, so jets were expected but had not yet been found.

> the radio emissions were consistent with relativistic jets from sources such as black holes – but, curiously, 100 times weaker than jets from other neutron stars.

That’s consistent. If magnetic fields weaken relativistic jets without completely suppressing them.

All normal.