Neutron stars and Magnetic Waves

[Enola Straight]

As I understand it, a Neutron star is composed of degenerate matter:gravity has compressed the atoms to such a degree that the electrons and protons cancel out, leaving electrically neutral particles called neutrons.

Neutrons also happen to have the strongest magnetic fields in the known universe ( I can't speak for quark stars, black holes, and quasars).

Magnetizm and Electricity go hand in hand, being manefistations of Charge.

How does a stellar body composed of chargeless particles produce a magnetic field?

[Enola Straight]

Neutrons also happen to have the strongest magnetic fields

Make that "Neutron Stars"

[Lord of the Abyss]

As I understand it, a Neutron star is composed of degenerate matter:gravity has compressed the atoms to such a degree that the electrons and protons cancel out, leaving electrically neutral particles called neutrons.

Nitpick : Neutron stars are made of neutronium, not degenerate matter. That's white dwarves; degenerate matter is what you get when the presure is great enough to collapse the atoms, but not enough to squeeze the protons and electrons into neutrons. It's a sea of electrons filled with atomic nuclei.

From my googling on the subject, it appears that the answer to the OP is partly that it's a compressed remnant of the star's original field, and partly "we don't know". I will point out that neutrons may not have a charge, but they do have a magnetic moment.

[Adrian Laguna]

The strongest neutron stars, called magnetars, have fields so strong that they'll kill you from 600 miles away by re-arranging all your atoms (from Discover Magazine).

[wilfulton]

As I understand it, a Neutron star is composed of degenerate matter:gravity has compressed the atoms to such a degree that the electrons and protons cancel out, leaving electrically neutral particles called neutrons.

Nitpick : Neutron stars are made of neutronium, not degenerate matter. That's white dwarves; degenerate matter is what you get when the presure is great enough to collapse the atoms, but not enough to squeeze the protons and electrons into neutrons. It's a sea of electrons filled with atomic nuclei.

Neutronium is more slang than anything. It isn't actually used in science. And yes, neutron stars are comprised of degenerate matter. It's at the state of neutron degeneracy. Dwarf stars just haven't gotten to that point yet, they're still locked in the state of electron degeneracy.

[Dennis Toy]

isn't neutronium matter so dense that a tablespoon of this stuff would crush the earth into small atomized particles. I remember reading on this.

[Adrian Laguna]

isn't neutronium matter so dense that a tablespoon of this stuff would crush the earth into small atomized particles. I remember reading on this.

No, more like weigh as much as the Himalayas.

[The Nomad]

How does a stellar body composed of chargeless particles produce a magnetic field?

AFAIK, although neutrons are globally chargeless, they are made up of charged particles whose charges cancel each other out, so a tiny dipole moment exists and enables the production of electromagnetic interaction.

( see here for a quick look on dipole moments )

[ClaysGhost]

How does a stellar body composed of chargeless particles produce a magnetic field?

Neutron stars are not just composed of neutrons. Unfortunately they're extremely complicated objects and our observational window is narrow, so there remain many unanswered questions about them.

It's thought that not all the original protons and electrons combine to form neutrons during core collapse (and conversion between them and neutrons probably happens all the time through beta decay and its inverse). The core remains a very good conductor throughout the collapse, and as a result the star's magnetic field becomes concentrated as the core material shrinks. The resulting degenerate material is probably a superconductor and gives rise to the enormous fields we infer.