Cosmic currents may move faster than light

[Aero]

Looks like we will have a new whipping boy for awhile. The investigator writes:

"This essentially is a completely new approach to pulsars, so will be treated with a great deal of hostility until it settles in," Singleton said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34938302/ns ... ence-space

[BenTC]

That was interesting enough to go looking for more detail ont he subject by John Singleton, but I first came across the following by Douglas Singleton which was just as interesting.

Electrons as quasi-bosons in magnetic white dwarfs

This weakening of the Fermi degeneracy pressure could result in
a white dwarf with a mass below the Chandrasekhar limit collapsing into
a neutron star. Further, this collapse of an otherwise stable white dwarf
to a neutron star, might occur without a supernova. This could offer an
explanation for certain pulsar systems which have planets orbiting them.
...
the cooling period of these magnetic white dwarfs could be
accelerated, since the quasi-bosonic electrons could Bose condense.
...
The system of an electron placed in a uniform magnetic field has a field
angular momentum, whose magnitude is proportional to the strength
of the magnetic field and the square of the screening distance of the
electric field of the electron. For certain values of the magnetic field and
screening distance this field angular momentum can take on half-integer
values, which combined with the half-integer spin of the electron leads to
the combined object of electron plus trapped magnetic flux having
an integer angular momentum. It is postulated that this transforms the
electron into a quasi-boson.

[kcdodd]

I thought pulsars were neutron stars. How do you generate a current in something made of neutrons?

[BenTC]

I thought pulsars were neutron stars. How do you generate a current in something made of neutrons?

Pulsars are highly magnetized, rotating neutron star that emit a beam of electromagnetic radiation.
...
The beam originates from the rotational energy of the neutron star, which generates an electrical field from the movement of the very strong magnetic field, resulting in the acceleration of protons and electrons on the star surface and the creation of an electromagnetic beam emanating from the poles magnetic field.

I think I read something a while back about neutrons being formed by the high pressure pushing an electron inside a proton. So at the surface where pressure is not as great as the interior, it might make sense for neutrons at the surface to devolve into separate protons and electrons.