Related papers: Current closure in the pulsar magnetosphere
Using an analytic, axisymmetric approach that includes general relativity, coupled to a condition for pair production deduced from simulations, we derive general results about the spatial distribution of pair-producing field lines over the…
The main issue of the pulsar magnetosphere is how the rotation power is converted into both particle beams which causes pulsed emissions, and a highly relativistic wind of electron-positron plasmas which forms surrounding nebulae shining in…
I give a brief overview of recent results from self-consistent modeling of electron-positrons cascades in pulsar polar caps. These results strongly suggest that the pulsar magnetosphere is a more complex system than was assumed before.
We propose a simple analytic model for the innermost (within the light cylinder of canonical radius) structure of open-magnetic-field lines of a rotating neutron star (NS) with relativistic outflow of charged particles (electrons/positrons)…
In an experiment on a magnetic dipole interacting with a laser-produced plasma the generation of an intense field aligned current (FAC) system was observed for the first time in a laboratory. The detailed measurements of the total value and…
I argue that the problem of electromagnetically driven electron-positron cascades in magnetospheres of neutron stars must be addressed starting from first principles. I describe a general numerical algorithm for doing self-consistent…
Ideal axisymmetric pulsar magnetosphere is calculated from the standard stationary force-free equation but with a new boundary condition at the equator. The new solution predicts Ohmic heating. About 50% of the Poynting power is dissipated…
We study plasma flows above pulsar polar caps using time-dependent simulations of plasma particles in the self-consistent electric field. The flow behavior is controlled by the dimensionless parameter alpha=(j/c rho_GJ) where j is the…
In this paper we consider the effect of a self-consistently computed magnetosdisc field structure on the magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling current system at Jupiter. We find that the azimuthal current intensity, and thus the stretching of…
Parker has hypothesised that, in a perfectly ideal environment, complex photospheric motions acting on a continuous magnetic field will result in the formation of tangential discontinuities corresponding to singular currents. We review…
A number of disparate observational and theoretical pieces of evidence indicate that, contrary to the conventional wisdom, neutron stars' closed field lines are populated by dense, hot plasma and may be responsible for producing some radio…
The mechanism by which the radiation received from obliquely rotating neutron stars is generated remains an open question half a century after the discovery of pulsars. In contrast, considerable progress has recently been made in…
The current state of the art in pulsar magnetosphere modeling assumes the force-free limit of magnetospheric plasma. This limit retains only partial information about plasma velocity and neglects plasma inertia and temperature. We carried…
Stationary pulsar magnetospheres in the force-free system are governed by the pulsar equation. In 1999, Contopoulos, Kazanas, and Fendt (hereafter CKF) numerically solved the pulsar equation and obtained a pulsar magnetosphere model called…
From pulsar scintillations we infer the presence of sheet-like structures in the ISM; it has been suggested that these are current sheets. Current sheets probably play an important role in heating the solar corona, and there is evidence for…
We present the structure of the 3D ideal MHD pulsar magnetosphere to a radius ten times that of the light cylinder, a distance about an order of magnitude larger than any previous such numerical treatment. Its overall structure exhibits a…
Nonthermal loop-top sources in solar flares are the most prominent observational signature that suggests energy release and particle acceleration in the solar corona. Although several scenarios for particle acceleration have been proposed,…
When time-reversal symmetry is broken on its surface, topological insulators exhibit a magnetoelectric response which is described by axion electrodynamics. A direct consequence of this theory is the appearance of a magnetic field that…
We investigate a stationary pair production cascade in the outer magnetosphere of a spinning neutron star. The charge depletion due to global flows of charged particles, causes a large electric field along the magnetic field lines.…
(abridged) The physics of the pulsar magnetosphere remains poorly constrained by observations. Little is known about their emission mechanism. Large vacuum gaps probably exist, and a non-neutral plasma partially fills the neutron star…