Theory of pulsar magnetospheres

TLDR

Pulsars, rotating neutron stars with strong magnetic fields, pose fundamental problems in high‑density, high‑field physics, and the magnetosphere remains difficult to model consistently. The study shows that charge‑separated plasmas can sustain stable static discontinuities.

Abstract

There is a wide range of fundamental physical problems directly related to how pulsars function. Some of these are independent of the specific pulsar mechanism. Others relate directly to the physics of the pulsar and already shed some light on the properties of matter at high density (\ensuremath{\sim}${10}^{15}$ g/cc) and in strong magnetic fields (\ensuremath{\sim}${10}^{12}$ G). Pulsars are assumed to be rotating neutron stars surrounded by strong magnetic fields and energetic particles. It is somewhere within this "magnetosphere" that the pulsar action is expected to take place. Currently there has been considerable difficulty in formulating an entirely self-consistent theory of the magnetospheric behavior and there may be rapid revisions in the near future, which is all the more surprising since many of the issues involve "elementary" problems in electromagnetism. One interesting discovery is that charge-separated plasmas apparently can support stable static discontinuities.