We discuss three specific modes of accretion disks around rotating magnetized neutron stars which may explain the separations of the kilo Hertz quasi periodic oscillations (QPO) seen in low mass X-ray binaries. The existence of these modes requires that there be a maximum in the angular velocity of the accreting material, and that the fluid is in stable, nearly circular motion near this maximum...

We present a semi-analytic model for the shaping of the Homunculus Nebula around η Carinae that accounts for the simultaneous production of bipolar lobes and an equatorial disk through a rotating surface explosion. Material is launched normal to the surface of an oblate rotating star with an initial kick velocity that scales approximately with the local escape speed. Thereafter, ejecta follow b...

We predict polarimetric line profiles for scattering off rotating disks using a Monte Carlo technique. We have discovered that there is a marked difference between scattering of line emission by a disk that reaches the stellar surface, and a disk with an inner hole. For the case with an inner hole, we find single position-angle rotations, similar to those predicted by analytic models. For the c...

We present a new perspective on the crystallinity of dust in protoplanetary disks. The dominant crystallization by thermal annealing happens in the very early phases of disk formation and evolution. Both the disk properties and the level of crystallinity are thereby directly linked to the properties of the molecular cloud core from which the star+disk system was formed. We show that, under the ...

We carried out axisymmetric simulations of disk accretion to a rapidly rotating magnetized star in the “propeller” regime. Simulations show that propellers may be “weak” (with no outflows), and “strong” (with outflows). Investigation of the difference between these two regimes have shown that outflows appear only in the case where the “friction” between the disk and magnetosphere is sufficientl...

Thls paper presents a method to measure impact forces on a surface by means of a piezoelectric thin film sensor array. The output signals of the sensor array provide information about the position, magnitude and wave form of the impact force. The sensor array may be used for tribological studies to the slider disk interface of a rigid disk storage device. In such a device a slider head assembly...

Viscosity and magnetic fields drive differentially rotating stars toward uniform rotation, and this process has important consequences in many astrophysical contexts. For example, merging binary neutron stars can form a “hypermassive” remnant, i.e. a differentially rotating star with a mass greater than would be possible for a uniformly rotating star. The removal of the centrifugal support prov...

We present two-dimensional numerical simulations of gravitational collapse of a rotating cloud. The collaping cloud forms a dynamically contracting disk. The disk structure can be well reproduced by a similarity solution. The similarity solution has only two parameters, the sound speed (cs) and the ratio of the speci c angular momentum to the mass (!). The disk mass is independent of the mass o...