Magnetically torqued thin accretion disks

Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Physics, 2006.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 61-64).
We consider geometrically thin accretion disks around millisecond X-ray pulsars. We start with the Shakura-Sunyaev thin disk model as a basis and modify the disk equations with a magnetic torque from the central neutron star. Disk solutions are computed for a range of neutron star magnetic fields. We also investigate the effect of different equations of state and opacities on the disk solutions. We show that there are indications of thermal instability in some of the disk solutions, especially for the higher values of 3M. We also explain how the time evolution of the disk solutions can be calculated.
by Antonia Stefanova Savcheva.
S.B.