English

Global current circuit structure in a resistive pulsar magnetosphere model

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena 2017-12-20 v1

Abstract

Pulsar magnetospheres have strong magnetic fields and large amounts of plasma. The structures of these magnetospheres are studied using force-free electrodynamics. To understand pulsar magnetospheres, discussions must include their outer region. However, force-free electrodynamics is limited in it does not handle dissipation. Therefore, a resistive pulsar magnetic field model is needed. To break the ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) condition EB=0E \cdot B = 0, Ohm's law is used. In this work, I introduce resistivity depending upon the distance from the star and obtain a self-consistent steady state by time integration. Poloidal current circuits form in the magnetosphere while the toroidal magnetic-field region expands beyond the light cylinder and the Poynting flux radiation appears. High electric resistivity causes a large space scale poloidal current circuit and the magnetosphere radiates a larger Poynting flux than the linear increase outside of the light cylinder radius. The formed poloidal current circuit has width, which grows with the electric conductivity. This result contributes to a more concrete dissipative pulsar magnetosphere model.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1711.07471,
  title  = {Global current circuit structure in a resistive pulsar magnetosphere model},
  author = {Yugo E. Kato},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1711.07471},
  year   = {2017}
}

Comments

17 pages, 28 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ

R2 v1 2026-06-22T22:51:50.938Z