Theory of pulsar magnetospheres

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.