An Alternative Numerical Method for the Stationary Pulsar Magnetospheres in the Force-Free System [PDF]
Yohsuke Takamori, Hirotada Okawa, Makoto Takamoto, Yudai Suwa
Stationary pulsar magnetospheres in the force-free system are governed by the pulsar equation. Contopoulos, Kazanas, and Fendt (hereafter CKF) numerically solved the pulsar equation and obtained a pulsar magnetosphere model called the CKF solution that has both closed and open magnetic field lines in 1999. The CKF solution is a successful solution, but it contains a poloidal current sheet that flows along the last open field line and its physics has not been understood well. In this paper, we suggest an alternative method to solve the pulsar equation and construct pulsar magnetoshpere models without a current sheet introduced by the CKF solution. In our method, the pulsar equation is decomposed into Amp\'ere's law and the force-free condition. We numerically solve these equations simultaneously with a fixed poloidal current. As a result, we obtain a pulsar magnetosphere model without a current sheet, which is similar to the CKF solution near the neutron star and has a jet-like structure at a distance along the pole. In addition, we discuss physical properties of the model.
View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1209.3855
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