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Science 16 October 1992:
Vol. 258. no. 5081, pp. 430 - 434
DOI: 10.1126/science.258.5081.430
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Articles

An Instability in Neutron Stars at Birth

Adam Burrows 1 and Bruce A. Fryxell 2

1 Departments of Physics and Astronomy, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721
2 Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771

Calculations with a two-dimensional hydrodynamic simulation show that a generic Raleigh-Taylor-like instability occurs in the mantles of nascent neutron stars, that it is possibly violent, and that the standard spherically symmetric models of neutron star birth and supemova explosion may be inadequate. Whether this "convective" instability is pivotal to the supemova mechanism, pulsar magnetic fields, or a host of other important issues that attend stellar collapse remains to be seen, but its existence promises to modify all questions concerning this most energetic of astronomical phenomena.

Submitted on July 24, 1992
Accepted on September 15, 1992

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)