Superconducting Heart of Neutron Stars: Implications for Gravitational Wave Emission

by Ms Mayusree Das (Indian Institute of Sciences, Bengaluru)

Tuesday 21 Jul 2026, 16:00 → 17:00 Asia/Kolkata

AG-66 (Hybrid) (https://tifr-res-in.zoom.us/j/91622923654?pwd=unhvib4aCAqy3Hy4mjA4RGGxKALSTE.1 Meeting ID: 916 2292 3654 Passcode: 728802)

We perform a general-relativistic analysis of proton superconductivity in magnetized neutron stars by solving the coupled Einstein-Maxwell equations. The study incorporates microscopically derived pairing gaps based on many-body nuclear interactions within realistic equations of state that include two- and three-body forces and relativistic mean-field models. We examine how magnetic field geometry (toroidal and poloidal) and stellar density (hence mass) affect the topology of type-I and type-II superconducting and normal regions. The results confirm the absence of S-wave superconductivity in the inner core for realistic-mass neutron stars, consistent with observational constraints, and reveal distinct three-dimensional nonsuperconducting domains: torus-like for toroidal and prolate for poloidal fields, which are not captured in one-dimensional models. These configurations provide new insight into the interplay between dense-matter microphysics and global magneto-hydrostatic stellar structure. This has many implications, including a possible strong inner magnetic field in a neutron star leading to magnetic deformation and hence continuous gravitational-wave emission as an observable from millisecond pulsars.