Power of an Axisymmetric Pulsar
Andrei GruzinovCenter for Cosmology and Particle Physics, Department of Physics, New York University, New York 10003, USA
2005en
ABI
Abstract
Certain exact properties of the stationary force-free magnetosphere of an axisymmetric pulsar are obtained. In particular, it is shown that a magnetic separatrix has an inclination angle of 77.3 degrees to the equatorial plane. The electromagnetic field has an R(-1/2) singularity inside the separatrix near the light cylinder. A numerical simulation of the magnetosphere which crudely reproduces these properties is presented. The numerical results are used to estimate the power of an axisymmetric pulsar: L=(1+/-0.1)mu(2)Omega(4)/c(3). Thus, the background magnetic configuration, on which all the puzzling pulsar phenomena are taking place, is now known with some confidence.
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Cited by 40 references