Abstract
Magnetoids—supermassive rotating highly magnetic stars—have long been considered1–4 as models of the power sources of active galactic nuclei, but previous studies have taken no account of interaction with neighbouring matter. We now show that interaction with a star cluster (of a kind likely to exist near the nucleus of a galaxy) will disrupt the main body of a nuclear magnetoid forming a dense core which is liable to explosion and/or gravitational collapse. The lifetime of such a magnetoid is estimated at 104 yr, too short to explain the activity of quasars and Seyfert galaxies (which might, nevertheless, be accounted for by residual black holes).
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Lugg, M. Effect of a surrounding star cluster on a magnetoid. Nature 289, 569–570 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1038/289569a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/289569a0
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