Journal
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS
Volume 673, Issue 2, Pages L171-L174Publisher
IOP PUBLISHING LTD
DOI: 10.1086/527298
Keywords
accretion, accretion disks; instabilities; MHD; stars : magnetic fields
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We report on the first global three-dimensional (3D) MHD simulations of disk accretion onto a rotating magnetized star through the Rayleigh-Taylor instability. The star has a dipole field misaligned relative to the rotation axis by a small angle theta. Simulations show that, depending on the accretion rate, a star may be in the stable or unstable regime of accretion. In the unstable regime, matter penetrates deep into the magnetosphere through several elongated tongues which deposit matter at random places on the surface of the star, leading to stochastic light curves. In the stable regime, matter accretes in ordered funnel streams and the light curves are almost periodic. A star may switch between these two regimes depending on the accretion rate and may thus show alternate episodes of ordered pulsations and stochastic light curves. In the intermediate regime, both stochastic and ordered pulsations are observed. For theta > 30 degrees, the instability is suppressed and stable accretion through funnel streams dominates.
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