Numerical simulations of aligned neutron star magnetospheres

Details Numerical simulations of aligned neutron star magnetospheres Numerical simulations of aligned neutron star magnetospheres

Apr 2001

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001mnras.322..209s&link_type=abstract

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 322, Issue 2, pp. 209-217.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

29

Plasmas, Stars: Neutron, Pulsars: General

Scientific paper

We present detailed numerical simulations of the magnetosphere of an isolated neutron star in which the spin and magnetic dipole axes of the star are aligned. We demonstrate that stable charge distributions are always found, rather than particle outflows. A stable magnetosphere consists of a dome above the polar cap containing plasma of one charge and an equatorial belt containing plasma of the other sign: E.B=0 inside both of these. These are separated by a vacuum gap in which E.B≠0 (ρ=0 instead). We show that the charge distribution used in the `standard' Goldreich-Julian pulsar model is inherently unstable: it collapses to a stable configuration that is very similar to the others illustrated here. An instructive video of this collapse is available at http://spacsun.rice.edu/~ian/. For typical pulsars, the stable solution has no particles near to the light cylinder, and if there were any there then their loss from the system would not lead to a replacement from the star (in contradiction to the explicit assumption used in the Goldreich-Julian model). We discuss the generic effects of pair creation, in particular as an additional source of ionization in the vacuum gap. The overall effect is simply to reduce the value of E.B in the vacuum gap so that the pair-production rate drops towards zero. A dome, disc and gap geometry is still the resulting solution. In conclusion, we confirm previous studies that the aligned rotator cannot make an active pulsar.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Numerical simulations of aligned neutron star magnetospheres does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Numerical simulations of aligned neutron star magnetospheres, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Numerical simulations of aligned neutron star magnetospheres will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1254466