SIMBAD references

The interaction between an accretion disk and the magnetosphere of a rotating compact star is studied in two- and three-dimensional simulations to address the role of ideal (nonresistive) magnetohydrodynamic instabilities of the differentially rotating plasma. Two-dimensional simulations show the dominance of the gravitationally driven Rayleigh-Taylor instability over the shear-flow-driven Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. Three-dimensional simulations starting from the full equilibria obtained by a numerical magnetofrictional method rather than a radial cut at z=0 generally show smaller growth rates and larger mode wavelengths due to magnetic line-tying. Thus growth rates of instability that cannot be calculated analytically because of the complicated magnetic field and plasma model can now be computed using numerical magnetohydrodynamic simulations. Variations of the accretion rate of a pulsar can be explained in terms of fast gravitational instability of the inner accretion disk edge and slow reloading of disk plasma.