Making Magnetars the Universe’s most powerful magnets

Magnetars — neutron stars with the most powerful magnetic field in the Universe — could form from the collision of other stars and a subsequent supernova explosion suggests new research.

The simulation marks the birth of a magnetic star such as Tau Scorpii. The image is a cut through the orbital plane where the colouring indicates the strength of the magnetic field and the light hatching reflects the direction of the magnetic field line. ( Image: Ohlmann/Schneider/Röpke)

How exactly do some neutron stars become the source for the most powerful magnetic fields in the Universe — magnetars?

That’s the question that a team of British and German researchers — from Heidelberg University, the Max Planck Society, the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies, and the University of Oxford — believe they may have answered.

The team used vast computer simulations to show how the collision of two stars could create massive stars with such strong magnetic fields, and — if they are to explode in a supernova — a magnetar.

Magnetic fields are ubiquitous throughout the Universe. For instance, stars similar to our Sun have envelopes within which, convection generates magnetic fields. But, the…