Magnetic neutron star equilibria with stratification and type-II superconductivity

We construct two-fluid equilibrium configurations for neutron stars with magnetic fields, using a self-consistent and nonlinear numerical approach. The two-fluid approach - likely to be valid for large regions of all but the youngest NSs - provides us with a straightforward way to introduce stratification and allows for more realistic models than the ubiquitous barotropic assumption. In all our models the neutrons are modelled as a superfluid, whilst for the protons we consider two cases: one where they are a normal fluid and another where they form a type-II superconductor. We consider a variety of field configurations in the normal-proton case and purely toroidal fields in the superconducting case. We find that stratification allows for a stronger toroidal component in mixed-field configurations, though the poloidal component remains the largest in all our models. We provide quantitative results for magnetic ellipticities of NSs, both in the normal- and superconducting-proton cases.

S.K. Lander, N. Andersson, K. Glampedakis · 2011