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Issue A&A Volume 443, Number 3, December I 2005 Page(s) 777 - 780 Section Astrophysical processes DOI 10.1051/0004-6361:20054119

A&A 443, 777-780 (2005)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20054119

A toy model for coupling accretion disk oscillations to the neutron star spin

J. Pétri

Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
    e-mail: jerome.petri@mpi-hd.mpg.de

(Received 1 July 2005 / Accepted 2 September 2005)

Abstract
Lee et al. (2004, ApJ, 603, L93) demonstrated numerically that rotation of neutron star couples with oscillations of its accretion disk to excite resonances. No specific coupling was assumed, but a magnetic field was suggested as the most likely one. Following this idea, we showed (Pétri 2005a, A&A, 439, L27, Paper I) that, if the neutron star is non-axially symmetric and rotating, its gravity might provide the coupling and excite resonances. Here, we return to the original suggestion that the coupling has a magnetic origin, and demonstrate how it works in terms of a simple analytic toy model.

Key words: accretion, accretion disks -- magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) -- relativity -- stars: neutron -- X-rays: binaries

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