by
Hari Dass(Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore)
→
Europe/Berlin
313
313
Description
Magnetars are incredible astrophysical objects with the largest ever
observed magnetic fiels that are more than a thousand times larger than Pulsar
fields.They are also associated with some of the most powerful flares ever
seen. The origin of such strong magnetic fields is a fascinating problem in
physics. I shall describe in this talk recent work done with V. Soni and
Dipankar Bhattacharya, wherein we have proposed neutral pion condensation in high baryon
density phase transitions as the source for such strong magnetic fields. This model
naturally explains many highly puzzling features of magnetars. A full understanding of
magnetars will require ideas and concepts from particle physics, condensed matter physics
and plasma physics.