Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Scientific paper
2011-07-05
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
13 pages, 6 figures, final version, accepted to ApJ
Scientific paper
The current state of the art in the modeling of pulsar magnetospheres invokes either the vacuum or force-free limits for the magnetospheric plasma. Neither of these limits can simultaneously account for both the plasma currents and the accelerating electric fields that are needed to explain the morphology and spectra of high-energy emission from pulsars. To better understand the structure of such magnetospheres, we combine accelerating fields and force-free solutions by considering models of magnetospheres filled with resistive plasma. We formulate Ohm's Law in the minimal velocity fluid frame and construct a family of resistive solutions that smoothly bridges the gap between the vacuum and the force-free magnetosphere solutions. The spin-down luminosity, open field line potential drop, and the fraction of open field lines all transition between the vacuum and force-free values as the plasma conductivity varies from zero to infinity. For fixed inclination angle, we find that the spin-down luminosity depends linearly on the open field line potential drop. We consider the implications of our resistive solutions for the spin down of intermittent pulsars and sub-pulse drift phenomena in radio pulsars.
Li Jason
Spitkovsky Anatoly
Tchekhovskoy Alexander
No associations
LandOfFree
Resistive Solutions for Pulsar 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 Resistive Solutions for Pulsar Magnetospheres, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Resistive Solutions for Pulsar Magnetospheres will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-677121