MHD instabilities in accretion mounds – I. 2D axisymmetric simulations

Abstract

We have performed stability analysis of axisymmetric accretion mounds on neutron stars in high-mass X-ray binaries by 2D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations with the pluto MHD code. We find that the mounds are stable with respect to interchange instabilities, but the addition of excess mass destabilizes the equilibria. Our simulations confirm that accretion mounds are unstable with respect to MHD instabilities beyond a threshold mass. We investigate both filled and hollow mounds and for the latter also compute the expected profile of cyclotron resonance scattering features (CRSF). In comparison to the CRSF from filled mounds reported in our earlier work, hollow mounds display wider and more complex line profiles.