Under consideration for publication in J. Plasma Phys.

1
arXiv:1608.04895v1 [astro-ph.HE] 17 Aug 2016

Theory of pulsar magnetosphere and wind

J É R Ô M E P É T R I †
Observatoire astronomique de Strasbourg, Université de Strasbourg,
CNRS, UMR 7550, 11 rue de l’université, F-67000 Strasbourg, France.

(Received xx; revised xx; accepted xx)

Neutron stars are fascinating astrophysical objects immersed in strong gravitational and
electromagnetic fields, at the edge of our current theories. These stars manifest themselves
mostly as pulsars, emitting a timely very stable and regular electromagnetic signal.
Even though discovered almost fifty years ago, they still remain mysterious compact
stellar objects. In this review, we summarize the most fundamental theoretical aspects
of neutron star magnetospheres and winds. The main competing models susceptible to
explain their radiative properties like multi-wavelength pulse shapes and spectra and
the underlying physical processes such as pair creation and radiation mechanisms are
scrutinized. A global but still rather qualitative picture emerges slowly thanks to recent
advances in numerical simulations on the largest scales. However considerations about
pulsar magnetospheres remain speculative. For instance the exact composition of the
magnetospheric plasma is not yet known. Is it solely filled with a mixture of e± leptons,
or does it contain a non negligible fraction of protons and/or ions? Actually, is it almost
entirely filled or mostly empty except for some small anecdotal plasma filled regions?
Answers to these questions will strongly direct the description of the magnetosphere
to seemingly contradictory results leading sometimes to inconsistencies. Nevertheless,
account are given to the latest developments in the theory of pulsar magnetospheres and
winds, the existence of a possible electrosphere and physical insight obtained from related
observational signatures of multi-wavelength pulsed emission.

1. Introduction
End product of stellar evolution, neutron stars form a special class of compact objects
showing themselves with many different faces (Popov 2008; Harding 2013). The idea of
the existence of neutron stars formed by the gravitational collapse of a star at the end of
their life during the explosion of the supernova (Baade & Zwicky 1934) was suggested well
before their observational evidence that appeared only thirty years later (Hewish et al.
1968). Studying neutron stars is nowadays without doubt of interest to many areas in
theoretical physics and astrophysics. The discovery of pulsars as a sub-class of neutron
stars revolutionized astrophysics and revived their theoretical study. Indeed, pulsars can
take pride in allowing for many recent advances and progresses in theoretical as well
as observational high-energy physics and astrophysics. Just to list some of their direct
observational impacts, we mention the confirmation of the existence of neutron stars
observed as pulsars (Hewish et al. 1968), indices on their internal structure, indirect
detection of gravitational waves (Hulse & Taylor 1975) and maybe in the future direct
detection with the international pulsar timing array Hobbs et al. (2010), detection of the
first planetary system (Bailes et al. 1991; Wolszczan & Frail 1992), study of quantum
processes in a strong magnetic field (Harding & Lai 2006; Lai 2015), motion of matter
and photons in strong gravitational fields (Kramer et al. 2006), survey of the interstellar
† Email address for correspondence: [email protected]
2 J. Pétri
medium in the Milky Way (Cordes & Lazio 2002) by dispersion measure and last but
not least survey of the galactic magnetic field in the Milky Way (Han et al. 2006, 2009)
by rotation measure. These discoveries highlight the importance of a right understanding
of neutron star physics and especially pulsars. We could then take full advantage of our
improved knowledge to constrain our theories of gravity and electromagnetism, a quest
not reachable on Earth.
In the present paper, we summarize several essential aspects of pulsar physics related
to their magnetosphere and wind. Although the general environment of a neutron star
is simply described by three ingredients, namely a compact object, rotating and last but
not least strongly magnetised, this ménage à trois brings in already severe complications.
These are reported in the overview of Sec. 2 where the overall electrodynamics is described
before plunging deeper into details of the magnetosphere in Sec. 3. With the advance of
numerical techniques and computer power, the wealth of observations forces us to refine
our physical assumptions rendering them more realistic by adding new corrections to the
simple magnetospheric view presented in the previous section. Some of these refinements
are listed in Sec. 4 and includes general relatively, multipoles, quantum electrodynamics,
pair creation and magnetic reconnection. We report then on progresses accomplished via
numerical simulations in Sec. 5. The dynamics in the magnetosphere is dominated by
the electromagnetic field up to a point, the light-cylinder, where particle inertia plays a
crucial role. This more remote location is often quoted as the pulsar wind and possesses
its intrinsic dynamics distinctly different from the closed magnetosphere, Sec. 7. The last
years have witnessed a dramatic change in the wind paradigm. It became clear that it
must be striped around the equatorial plane, Sec. 8, thus leading to a time-dependent
view including breakdown of the MHD regime within the stripe. The next decade should
bring in more quantitative and qualitative insight into pulsar magnetosphere theories as
we bet in the concluding Sec. 9.

2. Overview of pulsar magnetospheres

Soon after the discovery of the first pulsar, it was realized that the central star should
be a neutron star. Following simple arguments, a simple but robust image emerged about
the main characteristics of this compact object, these being its period of rotation and
its surface magnetic field strength. A fast rotating strongly magnetized neutron star in
vacuum served as a template for the general understanding of such systems. We remind
how scientists came to this conclusion and their implications for current research in the
field. We think it useful to point out again the main historical steps because the physics
of pulsars, despite fifty years of intensive research, is still in its infancy.

2.1. Orders of magnitude

Although neutron stars have eventually been taken seriously fifty years ago, modelling
of its environment is still in its early stages nowadays. Nevertheless it can be indisputably
summarized in one sentence: a pulsar hosts a neutron star that is rapidly rotating and
strongly magnetized†. Indeed, the hope to explain pulsars with an underlying white dwarf
went away very soon after realizing that the observed rotation periods, much less than a
second, would disrupt the star because of centrifugal forces induced by stellar rotation at a
rate much larger than the break-up velocity limited by the Keplerian frequency. Moreover
the collapse of a standard main sequence star to a neutron star with conservation of
† The meaning of “rapid rotation” and “strong magnetic field” needs clarification and will be
justified in the following lines.
 3
angular momentum and magnetic flux at the zero’s level of approximation can lead to
strong magnetic fields as those expected to ignite pulsar electromagnetic activity. Indeed,
simple estimates for periods and magnetic fields of pulsars are given by conservation of
angular momentum
2
Mns Ωns Rns = M∗ Ω∗ R∗2 (2.1)
and magnetic flux
2
Bns Rns = B∗ R∗2 (2.2)
during the collapse of the progenitor star. M , Ω and R are respectively the mass,
the rotation rate and the radius, on one hand of the neutron star with each physical
quantity X indexed by Xns and, on the other hand the progenitor with index X∗ .
Assuming mass conservation Mns = M∗ (certainly a too crude assumption), the increase
in magnetic field and angular velocity are in the same ratio of
 2
R∗
≈ 1010 (2.3)
Rns
for typical main sequence and neutron star radii taken to be about R∗ = 106 km and
Rns = 10 km, respectively. Rotation period of main sequence stars from the Kepler
space mission have been observed between 0.2 day and 70 days (McQuillan et al. 2014)
and the magnetic field for the Sun is about 10−3 T. This leads to Ωns ≈ 0,5 ms and
Bns ≈ 107 T compatible with actual values of neutron stars. Strongly magnetized stars
refers to magnetic field strengths comparable to the quantum critical field given by
m2e c2
Bqed = ≈ 4,4 · 109 T (2.4)
e~
obtained by equating the electron rest mass me c2 to the cyclotron energy ~ ωB , ~ being
the reduced Planck constant. A neutron star is also highly compact. Its compactness, de-
fined by the ratio between its Schwarzschild radius Rs = 2 G M/c2 (G is the gravitational
constant) and its actual radius R, is of the order
  −1
Rs M R
Ξ= ≈ 0,345 (2.5)
R 1,4 M⊙ 12 km
thus close to the most extreme compactness given by a Schwarzschild black hole for
which Ξ = 1. The effects of general relativity will be significant at least close to the
stellar surface, in particular around the polar caps where pair creation is supposed to
occur. Neutron star mass measurements give an average value of around 1,5 M⊙ with a
spread of about 0,5 M⊙ (Lattimer 2012). Most equations of state predict radius about
12 km. Simultaneous measurements of masses and radii are also of great interest for
nuclear physicists to constrain the equation of state of matter above nuclei densities
(Ozel & Freire 2016).
Pulsars are usually compiled in a so called P − Ṗ diagram shown in fig. 1 where P
represents the pulsar rotation period and Ṗ its period derivative. The latter accounts for
the braking of the star through energy and angular momentum losses in vacuum or by
a relativistic wind. In fig. 1, we separate them into three classes, those seen mainly in
radio, those observed in gamma-rays and those being part of a binary system. To date,
we know more than 2 000 pulsars among them about 100 evolving in binaries. These are
only a tiny fraction of the total number of neutron stars in our galaxy estimated to be
around 108 -109 .
Although pulsars have been discovered through their radio emission this mechanism
4 J. Pétri
radio
10−10 gamma
binary

10−13

Ṗ (s/s)
10−16

10−19

10−22
10−3 10−2 10−1 100 101
P (s)

Figure 1. P − Ṗ diagram of all known pulsars with measured period and period derivatives.
Data are from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue at http://www.atnf.csiro.au/people/pulsar/psrcat/
and Manchester, R. N., Hobbs, G.B., Teoh, A. & Hobbs, M., AJ, 129, 1993-2006 (2005).

remains largely misunderstood. Moreover, only a fraction of 10−5 of the rotational kinetic
luminosity is converted into radio power. The radio brightness temperature is of the order
Tb ≈ 1025 − 1028 K, thus not produced by a usual plasma process but via a coherent
emission mechanism that still awaits to be elucidated. To get a more accurate idea of the
pulsar machinery, it is compulsory to make a rigorous scrutiny of the physical conditions
reigning inside its magnetosphere. The assumption of a rotating magnetic dipole loosing
energy per vacuum electromagnetic radiation is unrealistic because we would only ex-
pected emission at the rotation frequency Ω completely at odds to observations showing a
broad band emission spectrum from MHz frequencies up to TeV energies. The rotational
braking of the star, the nascent current in the magnetosphere circulating into the wind,
the associated particle acceleration and transport of energy from the surface across the
light cylinder up to the nebula therefore all require a detailed knowledge about their
electrodynamics, especially the longitudinal electric current (along magnetic field lines).
For the sake of simplicity, we essentially distinguish three kind of magnetospheres, or
more exactly three fundamental hypotheses to the elaboration of pulsar magnetosphere
theory. On one extreme side, we consider a naked star, entirely devoid of plasma in its
immediate neighbourhood, the zero-th order formulation so to say. Of course, without
plasma there is no high energy emission but if the plasma density remains negligible,
the dynamics only weakly depends on the plasma motion and properties. On the other
extreme side, we consider a star completely surrounded by a dense plasma, screening the
longitudinal electric field Ek = E·B/B that would be imposed in vacuum by the previous
assumption. In between these two conflicting starting points, an intermediate model
admits the existence of a surrounding partially filled or empty magnetosphere, depending
on our pessimistic or optimistic view, called an electrosphere. These three models and
possible variations as well as their related observational implications are synthesized
in fig. 2. The place of the plasma density cursor is the discriminating parameter. The
low density limit leads to non linear plasma wave models (Rajib et al. 2015) whereas
the high density limit was developed as a relativistic wind model. Pair production in the
magnetosphere is the key process to determine which regime is to be applied and nothing
 5

magnetosphere

charge almost
vacuum
separated full

Maxwell non-neutral neutral

equation plasma plasma (MHD?)

cosmic ray polar outer slot

electrosphere
acceleration cap gap gap

monochromatic radio & radio &

radio gamma
at Ω gamma? gamma?

Increasing magnetospheric plasma density

Figure 2. Synthetic view of pulsar magnetosphere models depending on the plasma density
in its magnetosphere. The upper cyan boxes indicate the three alternative magnetosphere
assumptions. The red boxes describe the regime used to investigate the dynamics. The blue
boxes point out the peculiarity of each model. The green boxes summarize the expected emission
spectra.

forbid to switch from on regime to the other during plasma transport towards the nebula.
Kennel et al. (1979) give orders of magnitude for the properties of these waves and winds.
We briefly remind the evolution of the ideas concerning pulsar magnetospheres leading
to these three alternatives.

2.2. Vacuum electromagnetic fields

The simplest model we can think of is about a vacuum magnetosphere, empty of any
plasma or particle. To start with, the internal structure of a neutron star is believed to
be in a superconducting and superfluid state. Its electric conductivity is so high that
the magnetic field is frozen into the star and could survive for a long time. Moreover
because of its rotation, a electromotive field is induced such that the electric field in the
corotating frame vanishes, E′ = 0. Transformations of the electromagnetic field from
one frame to another require general relativity (Kaburaki 1978) and not the Lorentz
transformations when rotation is considered. The question about electromagnetic fields
in rotating frames was raised by Schiff (1939) who discussed an illustrative example
of two rotating and charged concentric spheres. Following his idea, Webster & Whitten
(1973) used the tensorial formalism of general relativity to write Maxwell equations in
any rotating coordinate frame. Additional source terms in the inhomogeneous Maxwell
6 J. Pétri
equations appear in non inertial frames. From the transformation law between an inertial
frame and a rotating frame (Grøn 1984) we get

E′ = E + (Ω ∧ r) ∧ B = 0 (2.6)

where r is the position vector and Ω the rotation velocity vector of the star. The
interpretation of this relation was not that obvious (Backus 1956). The usual picture of
magnetic field line motion has been challenged by Newcomb (1958) and should be taken
with care. From this equilibrium condition we deduce that the electric and magnetic
field are perpendicular in any frame because of the Lorentz invariance of E · B = 0.
In other words, magnetic field lines are equipotentials for the electric field. To solve
completely the problem of this rotating conductor, we need an assumption about the
internal magnetic field. Two simple choices often quoted are an uniform magnetic field
inside the star or a point dipole located right at its centre. It is straightforward to show
that in both configurations the external magnetic field is dipolar. For a rotator with
inclination between rotation axis and either the magnetic moment or the direction of the
uniform interior magnetic field depicted by an obliquity χ, these expressions in spherical
polar coordinates (r, ϑ, ϕ) in the quasi-static near zone for distance much less than the
wavelength λ = 2 π rL where rL = c/Ω are given by

2 B R3
Brext = (cos χ cos ϑ + sin χ sin ϑ cos ψ) (2.7a)
r3
B R3
Bϑext = 3 (cos χ sin ϑ − sin χ cos ϑ cos ψ) (2.7b)
r
B R3
Bϕext = 3 sin χ sin ψ (2.7c)
r
where ψ = ϕ − Ω t is the instantaneous phase at time t. The external electric field in
vacuum is quadrupolar and its components read
 4
R4

R 2 Q∗
Erext = Ω B R 4
cos χ (1 − 3 cos θ) − 3 4
sin χ cos θ sin θ cos ψ +
r r 4 π ε0 r 2
(2.8a)
 2  2  4

R R R
Eθext = Ω B R sin χ cos 2 θ − 1 cos ψ − 4 cos χ sin 2 θ (2.8b)
r2 r2 r
R2 R2
 
Eϕext = Ω B R 2 1 − 2 sin χ cos θ sin ψ. (2.8c)
r r
There is one free parameter depicted by the total charge of the neutron star through the
quantity Q∗ . Indeed, according to Gauss theorem, the asymptotic electric field has only
a dominant radial component Er = Q∗ /4 π ε0 r2 , that is a monopolar term.
In order to deduce the electric field inside the star and to fully solve the electromagnetic
problem in whole space, we need to distinguish between several magnetizations. Assuming
a dipolar magnetic field inside, the electric field inside becomes

Ω B R3
Erint = (cos χ sin2 ϑ − sin χ cos ϑ sin ϑ cos ψ) (2.9a)
r2
Ω B R3
Eϑint =− (cos χ sin 2 ϑ + 2 sin χ sin2 ϑ cos ψ) (2.9b)
r2
Eϕint = 0. (2.9c)
 7

Figure 3. Uniform (upper blue) versus dipolar (lower red) internal magnetic field. Whatever
the internal structure, outside the magnetic field is dipolar and the electric field quadrupolar to
lowest order in R/rL .

but if the magnetization is uniform inside the electromagnetic field looks like

Brint = 2 B (cos χ cos ϑ + sin χ sin ϑ cos ψ) (2.10a)

Bϑint = 2 B (− cos χ sin ϑ + sin χ cos ϑ cos ψ) (2.10b)
Bϕint = −2 B sin χ sin ψ (2.10c)
Erint = 2 r Ω B sin ϑ (− cos χ sin ϑ + sin χ cos ϑ cos ψ) (2.10d )
Eϑint = −2 r Ω B sin ϑ (cos χ cos ϑ + sin χ sin ϑ cos ψ) (2.10e)
Eϕint =0. (2.10f )

These expressions are valid in the near zone where r ≪ λ because they neglect the
displacement current ε0 ∂t E. Let us have a look on the charge distribution inside the
star and at its surface. In this approximation there is no surface current because of the
quasi-static assumption. Discontinuities in the magnetic field responsible for this current
include corrections of the order O(Ω). From the perfect conductor condition eq. (2.6) the
density in the absence of electric current, that could be neglected because the advective
and displacement terms are of the order (r/rL )2 , is

ρe = ε0 ∇ · E = −2 ε0 Ω · B . (2.11)

If the magnetization is dipolar, a central point charge exists, given by

8π
Qc = ε0 Ω B R3 cos χ . (2.12)
3
This charge should not be forgotten when computing the full electromagnetic field.
The volume charge inside the star is zero between two spherical shells, the remaining
distributes on its surface, inducing a discontinuity in the radial component of the electric
field which is sustained by a surface electric charge σs = ε0 [Er ]. The central point charge
is compensated by the stellar surface charge as summarized in table 1. In the same vein,
for a uniform magnetization, the constant volume charge density is compensated by the
surface charge to keep the star electrically neutral whereas the central point charge has
disappeared, see table 2. Tables 1 and 2 summarizes the electric charge density inside
the star and on its surface for both uniform and dipole magnetization and fig. 3 shows
the two magnetizations. For completeness, the total volume and surface charges are also
8 J. Pétri

8π
Central point charge Qc 3
ε0 Ω B R3 cos χ
ε0 Ω B R3
Volume charge density ρe − r3
(cos χ (1 + 3 cos 2 ϑ) + 6 sin χ cos ϑ sin ϑ cos ψ)
Surface charge density σs −2 ε0 Ω B R (cos χ cos2 ϑ + sin χ cos ϑ sin ϑ cos ψ)
Total volume charge Qv 0
Total surface charge Qs −Qc
Total stellar charge Q∗ 0
Table 1. Properties of vacuum electrodynamics around neutron stars for a dipolar
magnetization.

Central point charge Qc 0

Volume charge density ρe −4 ε0 Ω B cos χ
Surface charge density σs ε0 Ω B R (cos χ (3 − 5 cos2 ϑ) − 5 sin χ cos ϑ sin ϑ cos ψ)
Total volume charge Qv −2 Qc
Total surface charge Qs 2 Qc
Total stellar charge Q∗ 0
Table 2. Properties of vacuum electrodynamics around neutron stars for a uniform
magnetization.

computed according to
y
Qv = ρe r2 sin ϑ dr dϑ dϕ (2.13a)
{
Qs = σs R2 sin ϑ dϑ dϕ (2.13b)

leading to the total electric charge of the star by Q∗ = Qv + Qs .

The neutron star even if surrounded by vacuum could have an atmosphere because of
its high surface temperature of T ≈ 106 K. However the thickness of this layer would be
very tiny because the height scale for a totally ionized hydrogen gas is
  −1  2
kB T M T R
H= ≈ 4,4 mm × (2.14)
G M mH /R2 1.4 M⊙ 106 K 104 m
At electrostatic equilibrium, the electromotive field displaces charges, initially interior
to the pulsar, to its surface where they accumulate to screen this field. Other charges
redistribute in such a way that in the rest frame of the star the total electric field vanishes.
At the stellar surface appears an electric field of the order
E = Ω B R = 1013 V/m . (2.15)
This huge field extracts charges from the surface despite the presence of a potential
barrier imposed by the inter and intra-molecular attraction†. This extraction threshold
can be neglected without difficulty for a pulsar (at least for the electrons and probably
also for the ions). The distinction between particle extraction and no particle extraction
leads to different pulsar atmospheric models, a possible explanation for the evolution of
pulsar states (Endean 1973). The vacuum model could also apply to low density plasmas.
By low density Endean & Allen (1970) meant n < 19 particles/m3 for instance for the
† We also implicitly neglect the gravitational force. Indeed, the ratio between gravitational
m
and electromagnetic forces is given by eq. (3.1) for protons and is even a factor mpe smaller for
electrons and therefore completely irrelevant for the physics at work in pulsars.
 9
Crab. They proposed a model where particle corotation is only reached at twice the light-
cylinder radius, r = 2 rL . When crossing this surface, particles become highly relativistic
and radiate synchrotron photons in regions forming a two armed spiral where E⊥ > c B.

2.3. Some historical notes

The exact analytical solution to the external problem taking into account the boundary
condition on the neutron star surface and the displacement current is given by Deutsch
(1955) solution whatever the magnetization, dipolar or uniform. Indeed, as shown in Pétri
(2015d), the electromagnetic field in vacuum outside the star is entirely determined by
the radial component of the magnetic field at the surface, Br . As this component is the
same for both magnetizations, we expect the same solution outside the star. The only
difference reflects in the surface charge and current densities, thus accounting for different
spindown luminosities and torques exerted on the star.
Deutsch (1955) was the first to compute electromagnetic wave emission emanating
from a magnetized star in solid body rotation. He found that for those stars with
strong magnetic field and rotating fast, the induced electric field becomes so strong
that it is able to accelerate particles of the circumstellar medium to relativistic and
even ultra-relativistic speeds. He thought that this phenomenon was the source for
cosmic rays, an idea still valid. The rotating magnetized star is therefore at the origin
of charge acceleration. At that time, he did not mentioned neutron stars. Moreover,
his computations were valid only for a star plunged in vacuum. The star only emits a
monochromatic large amplitude electromagnetic wave at a frequency equal to the stellar
rotation rate Ω. The exact analytical solution he found is

" #
(1)
R3 R h1 (k r) iψ
Br (r, t) = 2 B cos χ cos ϑ + sin χ sin ϑ e (2.16a)
r3 r h(1) (k R)
1
 
(1)
   
d
R 3
R dr r h 1 (k r) R 2
h
(1)
(k r)
Bϑ (r, t) = B  3 cos χ sin ϑ +  (1)
+ 2  2   sin χ cos ϑ ei ψ 
r r h (k R) rL d r h(1) (k r) |R
1 dr 2
(2.16b)
 
d (1) (1)
R dr (r h1 (k r)) R2 h2 (k r)
Bϕ (r, t) = B  + cos 2 ϑ i sin χ ei ψ (2.16c)
rL2
(1)
 
r h1 (k R) d (1)
r h2 (k r) |R
dr

(1)
k = 1/rL is the wavenumber and hℓ are the spherical Hankel functions of order ℓ
satisfying the outgoing wave conditions, see for instance Arfken & Weber (2005). The
10 J. Pétri
induced electric field is then
 
(1)
2 R2 R2
 
R h2 (k r)
Er (r, t) = Ω B R  − 2 (3 cos2 ϑ − 1) 2
cos χ + 3 sin χ sin 2 ϑ ei ψ   
3 r r r d (1)
r h2 (k r) |R
dr
(2.16d )
 
(1)
  
d
R4 R dr r h2 (k r) (1)
h1 (k r) 
Eϑ (r, t) = Ω B R − 4 sin 2 ϑ cos χ + sin χ ei ψ    cos 2 ϑ − (1)
r r d (1)
r h2 (k r) |R h1 (k R)
dr
(2.16e)
 
(1)
 
d
R dr r h2 (k r) (1)
h1 (k r) 
Eϕ (r, t) = Ω B R    − (1) i sin χ cos ϑ ei ψ (2.16f )
r d (1)
r h2 (k r) |R h1 (k R)
dr

The physical solution is found by taking the real parts of each component, it encompasses
a linear combination of the vacuum aligned dipole field and the vacuum orthogonal
rotator with respective weights cos χ and sin χ. To complete the solution for arbitrary
stellar electrical charge, we add a monopolar electric field contribution due to the stellar
surface charge such that
Q∗ − Qc
Ermono = (2.17)
4 π ε0 r 2
where Q∗ is the total electric charge of the star. This term compensates the cos χ/r2
decrease of Er in eq. (2.16d). Deutsch solution separates space around a magnet into
three distinct regions: the near or quasi-static zone where r ≪ rL and for which the
above expressions reduce to the static oblique dipole eq. (2.7)-(2.8), the transition zone
r ≈ rL and the wave zone r ≫ rL where the electromagnetic field resembles a transverse
electromagnetic plane wave with an elliptical polarization, circular polarization along the
rotation axis and linear polarization along the equatorial plane. An example of magnetic
field lines in the equatorial plane is shown for the orthogonal rotator as red solid lines
in fig. 4. The radial component of (B, E) decreases like 1/r2 whereas the transverse
component of (B, E) decreases like 1/r typical for radiating fields in three dimensional
space. To better catch the geometry of the field lines, let us focus on the perpendicular
rotating dipole with χ = π/2. In the asymptotic limit when r → +∞, in the equatorial
plane we found a constant ratio
Br
r = cst . (2.18)
Bϕ
As explained by Michel & Li (1999) there are only two open field lines asymptoting to
these Archimedean spirals. Their exact expressions at a fixed time are given in implicit
form by
Br (ϕ + (r − R)/rL )
r = −1 (2.19)
Bϕ (ϕ + (r − R)/rL )
to be solve for ϕ with respect to r. The two solutions are shown as blue solid lines
in fig. 4 as a two-armed spiral. Asymptotically, this spiral coincides with the Br = 0
loci (Kaburaki 1980). Kaburaki (1978) gave approximate analytical solutions in the near
and wave zone for an uniformly magnetized rotating dipole using a scalar and vector
potential description instead of electric and magnetic fields. Subsequently Kaburaki
(1980) improved the method and gave exact analytical expressions by using rigid-rotation,
retardation and radiation operators applied to the static dipole. Then Kaburaki (1981)
 11

Deutsch orthogonal dipole

2
10
8
6 1
4
2
y/rL

y/rL
0 0
-2
-4
-6 -1
-8
-10
-10 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10 -2
-2 -1 0 1 2
x/rL
x/rL
Figure 4. Magnetic field lines (red solid lines) of the Deutsch solution for the orthogonal rotator
with R/rL = 0.2. The right panel is a zoom into the central region close to the light-cylinder
(in dashed black circle of radius unity). The two-armed blue spiral line depicts the large scale
wave structure of the electromagnetic field.

solved the so-called modified Deutsch problem that is, taking into account corotating
plasma up to at most the light-cylinder without poloidal current but approximately
including inertial effects which were fully treated by Kaburaki (1982). A self-consistent
description then required the presence of a disk in the corotation zone (Kaburaki
1983). The Deutsch vacuum solution can also be expressed in the corotating frame
(Ferrari & Trussoni 1973).
However the presence of plasma modifies that picture because charge acceleration in
the magnetosphere leads to an electromagnetic activity detectable on Earth. This activity
induces a multi-wavelength emission spectrum as suggested by Gold (1968) for neutron
stars. The possible association between the Vela supernova remnant and its central pulsar
was already discussed by Large et al. (1968). The first model for an electromagnetically
active neutron star was proposed by Pacini (1967). Then Pacini (1968) claimed that a
rotating neutron star was the source of energy feeding the Crab nebula with fresh particles
and admitted that a strong magnetic field transmits rotational kinetic energy from the
star to the nebula via production of high energy particles. From the work of Deutsch
(1955) he deduced the energy radiated by such a star and concluded that a strongly
magnetized neutron star located at the centre of the Crab nebula was responsible for
the luminosity of its nebula, which was in agreement with observations. This idea was
proposed even before the discovery of the first pulsar! He envisaged the existence of
a star possessing a purely dipolar magnetic field, its magnetic moment µ making an
angle χ with respect to the rotation axis. Rotation of magnetic dipole dragged by the
star induces emission of a monochromatic electromagnetic wave at the star frequency Ω.
2
The radiation has a dipolar pattern and its total intensity is given by L = Lvac ⊥ sin χ
where the luminosity of a perpendicular rotator is
8 π B 2 Ω 4 R6
Lvac
⊥ = (2.20)
3 µ0 c 3
12 J. Pétri
B is the magnetic field at the equator and R the neutron star radius. A more general
prescription for the spin down luminosity, valid in the presence of a plasma, would
be to set L = f (χ) Lvac⊥ . The function f hides the precise microphysics inside the
magnetosphere. We will come back to this point when discussing numerical simulations
able to determine f depending on the plasma regime. In any case, this energy is not
extracted from nuclear reactions nor from the collapse of the star. It is drained from the
rotational kinetic energy reservoir containing a huge amount of energy estimated to be
   −2
1 I P
Erot = I Ω 2 = 2 π 2 I P −2 ≈ 1,97 · 1039 J (2.21)
2 1038 kg m2 1s
with I the stellar moment of inertia, equal to 25 M R2 for a homogeneous sphere. The
power radiated exhausts this energy Ekin and generates a luminosity following the relation
! 
  −3
dErot 2 −3 24 I Ṗ P
Lrot = − = −I Ω Ω̇ = 4 π I Ṗ P ≈ 3,95·10 W 2 −15
dt 1038 kg m 10 1s
(2.22)
with a typical spindown time scale of τ = P/2 Ṗ known as the characteristic age of the
pulsar. A useful information about the brake efficiency is depicted by the braking index
defined by
Ω Ω̈
n= . (2.23)
Ω̇ 2
Without any a priori knowledge of the secular evolution of all pulsar parameters such as
magnetic field B, electric equivalent radius Rel , moment of inertia I, inclination angle χ,
the braking index according to vacuum magnetodipole losses is
" #
Ω Ḃ Ṙel I˙
n = 3+ 2 + 2 χ̇ cot χ + 6 − . (2.24)
Ω̇ B Rel I

The electric equivalent radius Rel is a fictive boundary of the star accounted for replen-
ishing the corotating magnetosphere with plasma that from an electrical point of view is
indistinguishable from the star. Such concept of radius was introduced by Melatos (1997)
to account for spindown properties of the Crab pulsar.
Energy losses are accompanied by a torque exerted on the neutron star that brakes
its rotation according to eq. (2.22), thus applying a torque along the rotation axis ez
but also a torque in the perpendicular plane tending to align the magnetic moment with
the rotation axis: the anomalous torque. In the vacuum solution, this happens following
the integral of motion Ω(t) cos χ(t) = cst (Michel & Goldwire 1970; Davis & Goldstein
1970) deduced from the spindown torque Ω̇ ∝ Ω 3 sin2 χ and therefore a braking index
(keeping other parameters constant in time) evolving in time according to
n = 3 + 2 cot2 χ(t). (2.25)
For a filled magnetosphere, loss by a charged wind from the poles induces an increase of
obliquity with a decrease of rotation rate because of the integral of motion Ω(t) sin χ(t) =
cst, see Beskin et al. (2015). Assuming a spindown like Ω̇ ∝ Ω 3 cos2 χ the braking index
now becomes
n = 3 + 2 tan2 χ(t) (2.26)
which also stays above n = 3, conflicting with measurements of braking index for
eight pulsars summarized in Hamil et al. (2015). However, the spindown torque obtained
by Beskin et al. (2015) seems to be based on an unphysical solution. Michel (1987)
 13
demonstrated that the torque in realistic magnetospheres is always aligning because,
independently of any details, open magnetic field lines always bent backward with respect
to rotation. Moreover, as already pointed out by Soper (1972), the vacuum results
should not straightforwardly transpose to the more realistic plasma filled magnetosphere.
Indeed, the plasma filled magnetosphere evolution of the inclination angle offers another
interpretation of braking index larger than 3 (Ekşi et al. 2016). In the same vain,
Philippov et al. (2014) accounted for plasma filled magnetospheres in the force-free and
MHD limit contributing to the total torque and therefore to the subsequent obliquity
evolution.
Applied to the Crab nebula, formula (2.22) indicates that the pulsar furnishes a power
of the order 1031 W, a value remarkably close to what the surrounding nebula radiates.
Thus, it is the rotational braking of the pulsar that feeds the nebula with particles and
energy. Such a braking needs a gigantic magnetic field estimated by equating the power
lost by the neutron star eq. (2.22) with the magnetodipole emission of an oblique rotator
eq. (2.20) to obtain

s s !−1/2  −1/2
3 µ0 c3 I Ω̇ 3 µ0 c3 I Ṗ P 1,01 · 108 T
 
I Ṗ P
B= − = ≈
8 π f (χ) Ω 3 R6 32 π 3 f (χ) R6 10 kg m2
38 10−15
p
f (χ) 1s
(2.27)
For the Crab this gives about 108 T. Ostriker & Gunn (1969) were the first to envisage
such magnetic field strengths. Gunn & Ostriker (1969) have also investigated the accel-
eration of particles to very high energy pushed by such large amplitude low frequency
electromagnetic waves. This intensity of the field was confirmed by the synchrotron
spectra of the pulsar. However, this model does not explain the origin of the pulsed
radio emission because it does not describe how to produce and accelerate particles,
the magnetosphere being empty. Noticing that radiation needs particle acceleration it
became quickly clear that the magnetosphere could not remain empty. Several scenarios
have therefore been proposed. Gold (1968) explained radio emission by a conglomerate
of electrons in corotation with the star. This idea of formation of a bunch of electrons
responsible for the coherent emission has then been invoked many times in recent models.
Goldreich & Julian (1969) examined in details the aligned rotator. They noticed that
an empty magnetosphere cannot last for a reasonable time because of strong electric fields
induced by rotation of the magnetic moment, pulling particles out from the surface and
dragging them in corotation with the star up to the light cylinder. Farther away a wind
is formed, made of charged particles. The polar caps represent therefore a first choice
region to explain radio emission. It is strictly speaking not a model for real pulsars
because no pulsation is predicted for an aligned configuration assuming axisymmetry.
Never mind, Goldreich (1969) stipulated that the physics of an oblique rotator should
not be very different from that of an aligned rotator. The very popular hollow cone model
was born (Radhakrishnan & Cooke 1969; Ruderman & Sutherland 1975). Although an
aligned rotator requires less effort because of axisymmetry, Mestel (1971) recognized that
an oblique rotator could deviate significantly from the aligned case leading to secular
evolution of the pulsar geometry by for instance precession.
Sturrock (1970, 1971a) introduced the first real model for pulsars by injection of
particles at the polar caps. These primary particles emit gamma-ray photons through
curvature radiation, photons that in turn disintegrate into secondary electron/positron
pairs. A cascade develops and the charged flow is controlled by this space charge. The
coherence of the emission is provided by bunches of electrons and positrons circulat-
14 J. Pétri
ing in opposite direction. Later on even photohadronic pair production in the pulsar
magnetosphere were considered by Jones (1979).
Ruderman & Sutherland (1975) improved the model of Sturrock (1970) by introducing
the discharge and drifting subpulses phenomena. These models require polar caps as
sources of relativistic particles. The sign of the charge available on these caps depends
on the scalar product Ω · B deduced from eq. (2.11), thus having sometimes electrons
sometimes ions present on the surface, in other words two classes of pulsars. Such
segregation was never observed, no such distinction should be expected.
Ruderman (1972) gave an early review on pulsars known at that time. Simplifying
analytical treatment without sacrificing essential physics is always a good idea. Indeed
Mestel (1973); da Costa & Kahn (1982) and da Costa (1983) made attempts to model
pulsar electrodynamics in 2D cylindrical coordinates that is invariant under translation
along the z-axis, to get better physical insight without dealing with the full 3D complexity
but keeping the important non axisymmetric property. Such approach pioneered by
Mestel et al. (1976) and took over by Burman & Mestel (1979) to investigate particle
inertia effects was however never pursued later.
Particle acceleration in a two-fluid plasma was discussed for an aligned rotator by
Scharlemann (1974) and Henriksen & Norton (1975a) and extended to an oblique geom-
etry by Henriksen & Norton (1975b).
On an experimental side, only a handful of laboratory experiments have been performed
to study neutron star magnetosphere among them the Terella by Birkeland beginning
of the 20th century (Birkeland 1908) to study polar aurora in gas-discharge experiments
and more recently the one by Eremin et al. (1979).

2.4. General picture

Although all models are based on fundamental ideas to explain radio emission, the
theory is inconsistent and does not solve the question of the global circuit for the
electric current and charge loading. How do charges circulate within this magnetosphere?
Moreover, the magnetic field in the nebula remains to intense to be only a relic of the
explosion and the presence of relativistic particles indubitably reveals that the source
must come from the central pulsar.
As we saw, rotation of the neutron star combined to the strong magnetic field produce
avalanches of electron/positron pairs. Vacuum solutions are not stable. The magneto-
sphere is necessarily filled with at least leptons maybe also protons and/or ions. To first
approximation, plasma effects should screen the longitudinal electric field, that is the
component of E along magnetic field lines should vanish, Ek = 0, meanwhile cancelling
any acceleration of particles. If this were not the case, charges would be immediately
accelerated towards appropriate regions to cancel this electric field component. Screening
implies an abundance of electron/positron pairs not restricted by any microphysics but
only by the requirement to cancel the Ek component. However, exact electric field
screening in the polar caps has been challenged by Shibata et al. (1998, 2002) who solved
Poisson equation in the gap. The acceleration time is very short with respect to the period,
about τB = 1/ωB ≈ 10−20 s. A contradiction appears already at this point. Indeed, we
required to have plasma flowing along field lines to produce multi-wavelength radiation
but if these are not accelerated how should they radiate? In a strong magnetic field,
particles are restricted to stay in their fundamental Landau level. Indeed the energy
levels are quantized in the plane perpendicular to magnetic field lines according to
s 
B
En = 1 + (2 n + 2 s + 1) m2e c4 + p2k c2 (2.28)
Bc
 15
where n represents the quantum number characterising the excitation degree of the level
and s = ±1/2 symbolise the electron spin (Daugherty & Ventura 1978). All energy levels
are degenerated with an arbitrary choice of the spin except for the fundamental level n =
0 for which s = −1/2. Actually, degeneracy is lifted through higher order interactions
between particles and the radiation field (Herold et al. 1982; Pavlov et al. 1991). However
particles are free to move along magnetic field lines and need a parallel component of the
electric field Ek 6= 0 in order to accelerate and radiate.
Clearly Ek = 0 should not hold everywhere in the magnetosphere. We will come back
to that point later when discussing possible gaps in the magnetosphere. As emphasized
by Shibata (1997), the determination of the accelerating electric field in the vacuum
gaps should be treated as a global problem including the current circuit flowing in
the magnetosphere as he did earlier in Shibata (1991). Particle acceleration cannot be
studied locally with special boundary conditions but consistently with the large scale
plasma configuration. Nevertheless, let us summarized the essential features of a pulsar
magnetosphere so far
• a plasma corotating with the star in the ideal MHD or even force-free approximation:
solid body rotation dictated by the star and free motion along field lines.
• a light cylinder: corotation stops outside this cylinder of radius rL = c/Ω. Particle
inertia becomes important, magnetic field lines are significantly deformed and swept back
by this mass load.
• a magnetic topology with open and closed field lines. Closed field lines are imprisoned
inside the light cylinder, plasma is corotating, no motion along field lines is permitted.
Open field lines cross the surface of the light cylinder and their foot are anchored in the
polar caps. Particles escape freely to infinity along these field lines.
• a light surface: surface where the intensity of the electric field become equal to that of
the magnetic field, E = c B. The electric drift approximation is violated, particles suffer
acceleration, the ideal MHD or force-free approximation breaks down. The light surface
and the light cylinder do not coincide, the first surface could be rejected to infinity for
sufficiently strong longitudinal currents.
• polar caps: regions around the magnetic poles where open field lines are attached
to, deviation from force-free is expected to produce radio emission (Sturrock 1971a;
Ruderman & Sutherland 1975).
• slot gaps: small elongated excision volumes along the last closed field line
within the magnetosphere, essentially empty of charges allowing pair creation
(Arons & Scharlemann 1979; Arons 1983), emergence of high energy radiation and
acceleration of particles (Dyks & Rudak 2003).
• for the aligned rotator, in the equatorial plane, transition from closed to open field
lines goes through a so-called Y-type neutral point (for short Y-point) at a radius RY .
It is generally assumed that RY = rL but more generally it should satisfy R 6 RY 6 rL .
For instance Sturrock (1971b) used the prescription RY = R1−η rLη with η ∈ [0, 1].
• outer gaps: large almost empty volumes in the magnetosphere, between the null
surface (where ρ = 0) and the last closed field line with copious pair creation via γ + γ →
e+ + e− (Cheng et al. 1986a,b; Romani & Yadigaroglu 1995). Synchrotron emission from
these gaps were studied by Crusius-Wätzel et al. (2001).
• annular gaps: region between the critical field line and the null surface (Qiao et al.
2004).
The scheme of fig. 5 is an illustration of some important quantities introduced above.
Possible finite temperature of the plasma is not accounted for but thermally supported
hot magnetospheres were suggested by Henriksen & Rayburn (1974). Also the situation
outside the light-cylinder is quite different from the regime inside it. Indeed the pattern of
16 J. Pétri

Ω
µ polar cap

outer gap

slot gap

closed magnetosphere

base of the wind (open field lines)

rL

Figure 5. Schematic view of the magnetosphere within the light-cylinder. Sizes of the gaps
are not to scale.

charges and current distribution present outside the light-cylinder are superluminal even
if the particles themselves remain subluminal. Such motions generate radiation qualified
as Schott radiation by da Costa & Kahn (1985) and to be distinguished from Cerenkov
radiation. A analogy with Cerenkov emission was nevertheless put forward by Ardavan
(1981). This flow outside the light-cylinder will be discussed in the pulsar wind theory
sec. 7.
In a series of papers by Ardavan (1976a,b,d ,e,c) it was claimed that the transition
between the corotating magnetosphere and the wind should go through a shock disconti-
nuity and not via a continuous MHD flow. Singular surfaces in the magnetosphere were
also found by Buckley (1976).

3. Theory of pulsar magnetospheres

Establishing a consistent model of pulsar physics requires an accurate and quantitative
description of the magnetospheric structure, the dynamics and radiative outputs, that
is, the magnetic field topology, the current flowing inside and outside the light-cylinder
and particle acceleration mechanisms. Such a study in the general case is very difficult to
conduct. Simple situations are instead treated but keeping the problem interesting from
a physical point of view. The hypotheses usually accepted are the following
• the magnetosphere is filled with a pair plasma screening the electric field such that E·
B = 0 everywhere. This means that all charged particles adapt their motion to maintain
a vanishing acceleration along field lines, thus Ek = 0. Spatially localized slight deviations
from this rigorous Ek = 0 fulfilment are expected to ignite electromagnetic activity in the
magnetosphere. Subleties in achieving Ek 6= 0 lead to different plasma regimes involving
a plethora of gap and cap models.
• particles follow an electric drift motion superposed to a translation along field lines.
• the regime is stationary and at least for earlier models assumed axisymmetric
(aligned rotator).
• primary particles emanate from the surface of the star, there is no pair creation.
• the plasma is quasi-neutral, which means that the space charge is overwhelmed by
a background much more dense neutral plasma.
 17
• sometimes the opposite is claimed that is a plasma entirely charge separated, in
other word a truly non neutral plasma.
• gravity and pressure (temperature) forces are neglected compared to electromagnetic
forces.
Let us explain in more details important implications of all these assumptions.

3.1. Filled magnetospheric model

An aligned rotator in vacuum does not radiate because dipolar magnetic emission
cancels for zero obliquity, χ = 0. But if plasma cohabits within the magnetosphere, the
current generated by the plasma motion induces a braking of the star through torques
exerted on the stellar crust. This idea was formulated by Goldreich & Julian (1969). But
where does this plasma come from? At first sight, the gravitational field is sufficiently
intense to retain particles at its surface but nevertheless this hypothesis is wrong. Indeed,
the strong magnetic field combined to the rotation of the star generates a potential drop
at the stellar surface hardly sustainable for the charges in the crust. The electric field
component aligned with the magnetic field, of the order of Ek ≈1010 V/m is able to pull
them out. The discontinuity of Er when crossing the surface/vacuum interface provokes a
surface charge density constrained to spread over vacuum because of Ek 6= 0. Comparing
the coulombian force to the gravitational attraction for a proton, we estimate the ratio
felmag e Ek R2
= ≈ 109 (3.1)
fgrav G M mp
and a value me /mp ≈ 2 000 larger for electrons. The gravitational force is completely
negligible. The vacuum around the star is unstable and must replenish with charges.
Goldreich & Julian (1969) supposed that the electromagnetic environment of the mag-
netosphere is described by a plasma corotating with the star up to the light cylinder
and magnetic field lines with no toroidal component. A fundamental difference exists
between closed and open field lines. On the latter, a current circulation is launched from
the polar caps, regions with cone opening angle given by simple geometrical arguments in
equation (3.10). Unfortunately, estimation of the energy loss by magnetodipole radiation
furnishes the same order of magnitude as the Deutsch-Pacini model. It is therefore
impossible to assess which of both models, empty or fully filled magnetosphere, is really
pertinent for pulsars.
The light cylinder is an imaginary cylindrical surface whose axis is parallel to the
rotation axis of the star and possesses a radius corresponding to a distance to the centre
of the neutron star for which the corotation speed reaches the speed of light. The radius
of the light cylinder is thus defined by
c
rL = . (3.2)
Ω
Physically, corotation is insured by the drift motion of particles in the electromagnetic
field at the electric drift velocity given by
E∧B
vEdrift = (3.3)
B2
It does not depend on the nature of the particles (mass, charge) but uniquely on the
structure of the electromagnetic field (E, B). Therefore this electric drift cannot induce
any current except if there is a deviation from charge neutrality whereby a convective
current exists. This drift does not forbid motion along magnetic field lines. Indeed, for
a perfectly conducting plasma, in the ideal MHD regime, the drift speed according to
18 J. Pétri
eq. (2.6) becomes
B · (Ω ∧ r)
vEdrift = Ω ∧ r − B (3.4)
B2
which clearly indicates contribution from corotation recognizable in the first term on
the right hand side, plus a sliding along field lines recognizable in the second term on
the right hand side. In order to avoid exceeding the speed of light, field lines have to
bent to induce a toroidal component Bϕ 6= 0. This points out the dichotomy between
closed and open field lines. The fundamental problem of pulsar electrodynamics was to
find a reasonable expression for this parallel current. Numerical simulations have been
able to answer satisfactorily this question as we discuss in Sec. 5. Asseo et al. (1984)
considered interesting alternative models carefully by studying the force-free surfaces.
They tempted also to include vacuum gaps between the neutron star and the force-free
regions as well as particle exchange via charged polar beams. Lyubarsky (2012) noticed
that the current required to flow within the magnetosphere does not necessarily match
the pair production rate and its flow within the polar caps. The mismatch could induce
modulation of radio emission.

3.2. Ideal MHD and force-free limit

In this most studied approximation, the magnetosphere is sufficiently populated with
plasma in order for the conductivity in the medium to become infinite or in other words
that all component of the electric field parallel to the magnetic field to be immediately
screened, Ek = 0. Moreover, the electromagnetic field dominates the dynamics of the
magnetosphere to several orders of magnitude with respect to pressure, gravity and
inertia. The Lorentz force on a plasma element, treated as a one component fluid, is
therefore null. Its vanishing leads to the so-called force-free approximation
ρe E + j ∧ B = 0 (3.5)
where ρe is the charge density and j the current density. The electric field is orthogonal to
2
the magnetic field E · B = 0. Implicitly magnetic energy density 2Bµ0 dominates against
any other kind of energy and notably the one related to particles inertia. This corresponds
to the vanishing mass limit. Moreover no dissipation is associated with this regime, ideal
MHD applies to the flow of velocity field v and
E+v∧B=0 . (3.6)
From eq. (3.5) and eq. (3.6) we deduce that the current density is made of a convective
term related to charge separation ρe v and to a field aligned current jk thus
j = ρe v + jk B/B. (3.7)
Goldreich & Julian (1969) postulated simply that the magnetosphere was entirely filled
up to the light cylinder, fig. 6. The magnetic field B aligned with the magnetic moment µ
and rotating at the angular speed Ω, generates an electromotive field from which forces
are sufficient to overcome gravity, creating a magnetosphere filled with plasma ejected
from the surface of the star. In the aligned case evoked here, magnetic dipolar emission
as suggested by Pacini disappears, there is no more braking through magnetodipole
radiation but through acceleration of charges in the magnetosphere as explained later. If
we assume that the reservoir of particles is infinite, the magnetosphere will be entirely
saturated with ions and electrons up to the light cylinder with a density of charge insuring
corotation of the whole system according to Maxwell-Gauss equation
ρe = ε0 ∇ · E = ρcor + j · (Ω ∧ r)/c2 . (3.8)
 19
The corotation charge density is given by ρcor = −2 ε0 Ω · B with the associated particle
density number ncor = ρcor /e. ρcor is the density required to screen the longitudinal
electric field. If the current density is purely corotating then j = ρe Ω ∧ r and the density
simplifies into
ρcor
ρe = . (3.9)
1 − (Ω ∧ r)2 /c2
In that case, the density diverges at the light-cylinder unless Ω · B = 0 there. The
MHD or force-free approximation requires a particle density number much larger that
the minimum required by the corotation, that is n ≫ ncor to insure almost perfect charge
neutrality. Thus if pair creation is ineffective, such high densities could not be reached
and the neutral fluid regime should be replaced by a non neutral plasma behaviour. The
denominator of eq. (3.9) brings in a relativistic correction in (1 − r2 sin2 ϑ/rL2 ) due to the
magnetospheric currents modifying the structure of the magnetic field, phenomenon very
perceptible in the vicinity of the light cylinder. Indeed, corotation of the magnetospheric
charge with the pulsar generates an electric current j = ρe v modifying through its
effects the initial configuration of the magnetic field. This self-consistent current leads to
more important effects when approaching the light cylinder. It is responsible for certain
relativistic effects in particular the determination of the corotation density. The magnetic
perturbations induced by these corotating currents have a tendency to repel field lines in
a direction opposite to the pulsar (plasma diamagnetic effect). These far away field lines
inflate to infinity until they open up. Mass loading causes field lines to sweep back thus
generating a longitudinal current jk that is difficult to estimate solely on ground of first
principles.
The magnetosphere then splits into two regions, one with closed field lines and the
other with open field lines. Both kind of field lines are in solid body rotation. Brought
back to the level of the stellar surface, open field lines focus into a small zone in the
vicinity of the magnetic poles, the polar caps which have a radius not larger than
r r
R R
rcp = R ϑcp = R arcsin ≈R (3.10)
rL rL
assuming vacuum dipolar field lines whose polar equation is r = λ sin2 ϑ. These estimates
do not include distortion due to either retardation effects around the light-cylinder and
already present in the Deutsch solution or magnetospheric currents. The region enclosed
inside the light cylinder is entirely filled with plasma at the corotation density ρe . If the
intrinsic magnetic field is dipolar, positively charged regions are separated from negatively
charged regions by a conical interface with opening angle defined by the condition Ω ·B =
0 according to eq. (3.9). Some magnetic field lines enclose simultaneously charges of both
signs, which rise the question of the existence of a process able to explain how this
transport can be produced. Open magnetic field lines going beyond the light cylinder
let particles definitely escape from the pulsar contributing to the total electric current.
They are divided into electron supported flow and proton supported flow, delimited by
the critical field line which is at the same electric potential as the interstellar medium.
The star loses then charges from the polar caps through the formation of a charged
wind which is a situation that cannot last for ever. The power released by these escaping
particles is comparable to the power radiated by the magnetic dipole of Pacini (1968). The
characteristic braking time scale and pulsar age will then remain the same. Quantitative
results will be discussed in the paragraph about numerical simulations in sec. 5. Note that
in some versions of Goldreich & Julian (1969) model, electron-positron pairs are formed
during the period of magnetosphere filling. Positive charges are then made of positrons.
20 J. Pétri
electron

critical line

proton

closed magnetosphere
rL

Figure 6. First model of a pulsar magnetosphere as proposed by Goldreich & Julian (1969).
The neutron star is symbolized by a circle on bottom left. The open field lines let a charged
wind escape from the poles. The closed field lines are filled with the corotation density and do
not support any electric current.

Although being able to explain the origin of particles, this model suffers from internal
inconsistency problems bound to the endless discharge of the pulsar and to the thorny
issue of the current closure. Moreover, Smith et al. (2001) have demonstrated through
numerical simulations that this model of magnetosphere entirely filled with corotating
plasma is unstable. They observed a collapse to a new charge distribution similar to the
one obtained by Krause-Polstorff & Michel (1985b), see later the section 6 discussing
about the electrosphere. We remind that the electric field produced in vacuum by a
rotating star is known since the work by Davis (1947) and for the oblique rotator filled
with plasma since Hones & Bergeson (1965) thus well before Goldreich & Julian (1969).
Whether the force-free solution can strictly apply outside the light-cylinder or not was
questioned by Buckley (1978) who showed that a small parallel electric field must exist
in order to allow for a finite speed of particle along field lines.

3.3. The pulsar equation

The current flowing along magnetic field lines in the magnetosphere constitutes an
inescapable unknown to the dynamics of pulsars. In order to determine it self-consistently,
the problem has to be solved from the surface of the star up to infinity. This task
is very arduous but real progresses have been made the last decade thanks to nu-
merical simulations. But before, let us remind the main approaches before this new
era of informatics. Michel (1973a) was the first to compute the exact structure of a
2D axisymmetric magnetosphere in the absence of field aligned current, jk = 0. The
fundamental equation for these corotating field lines was given through the magnetic flux
function ψ related to the magnetic field by B = 1r ∇ψ ∧eϕ . The magnetic flux function ψ,
in presence of a longitudinal current satisfies a relation established independently by
Scharlemann & Wagoner (1973) and by Michel (1973b) see also Julian (1973), it is written
as
∂2ψ ∂ 2 ψ 1 rL2 + r2 ∂ψ A(ψ) A′ (ψ)
2
+ 2
− 2 2
=− 2 . (3.11)
∂r ∂z r rL − r ∂r rL − r2
It is often named the pulsar equation. Endean (1974) gave another derivation of the
pulsar equation and made some useful comments about the underlying hypothesis. The
function A(ψ) is a priori arbitrary, but it must verify some alfvenic regularity conditions
at the light cylinder. It is related to the poloidal current I by µ0 I = 2 π A. The singularity
at r = rL imposes a strong constraint on the function A that must satisfy the regularity
condition 2 rL ∂ψ ′
∂r = A A . In the absence of longitudinal currents A = 0 and far away from
the light cylinder, r ≪ rL , the multipolar expansion of the field in vacuum is retrieved.
Note also that this equation is singular on the light cylinder r = rL . It can be shown that
 21
these field lines are perpendicular to the light cylinder. This leads to a very important
physical conclusion: the Poynting vector does not possess a component normal to the light
cylinder which means that the electromagnetic energy flux through the light cylinder
vanishes. In the absence of longitudinal current, the plasma filling the magnetosphere
screens the dipolar field, no magnetodipole emission is allowed. The energy loss of
the pulsar cannot come from the action of a current circulating in the interior of its
magnetosphere without crossing the light cylinder. Moreover, the solution exterior to the
light cylinder has no influence on the interior solution. Solving equation (3.11) for the flux
function ψ, Michel (1973a) obtained the shape of the magnetic field interior to the light
cylinder. The plasma has a tendency to deform field lines in the direction of an increase
of total magnetic flux extending to the light cylinder, magnetic energy in the vicinity of
the cylinder is also increased. Mestel et al. (1979) and Mestel & Wang (1979) extended
this model by adding small gaps between ions and electrons along the null surface.
Perturbations of this null surface by for instance charge depletion in the charge separated
plasma is unstable against vacuum gap formation in its vicinity. Following arguments
detailed by Holloway (1973), replenishment is forbidden. Later Holloway & Pryce (1981)
studied the properties of vacuum gaps with finite temperature plasmas. A current flows
out of the null surface where replenishment is impossible but acceleration of particles to
very high energies is expected in the huge potential drop limited by pair production
(Cheng et al. 1976). Okamoto (1974, 1975) suppressed the hypothesis of corotation
introduced by Michel (1973a) and computed the magnetic field configuration in such
a situation. Scharlemann & Wagoner (1973) introduced particles inertia but assuming
that it remains small and without giving exact solutions. Inertial effects were also the
topic of Schmalz et al. (1979) who presented first results in Schmalz et al. (1980). The
problem of an oblique rotator has not been studied. Let us cite the work by Mestel et al.
(1999) who determined the pulsar magnetosphere in the case of a perpendicular rotator.
The current formed by the particle flow but also the displacement current act to distort
field lines.
Progress were accomplished by Contopoulos et al. (1999) who managed to treat nu-
merically the regular singularity along the light cylinder. According to their results,
it seems that only one such function A exists for which the solution crossing the
light cylinder possess no discontinuity. However other solutions have been found by
Timokhin (2006) if the singular point is located inside the light-cylinder, translating
the Y-point RY as proposed by Sturrock (1971b). Equating the force balance between
the Y-point and the centrifugal force Roberts & Sturrock (1972) found a braking index of
n = 7/3 for the Crab in agreement with observation at that time and also in agreement
with the period-pulse width relation. Closed field lines do not necessarily stop at the
light-cylinder but maybe already well within it, at the so called force-balance radius
where gravitational and centrifugal forces compensate each other (Roberts & Sturrock
1973). As pulsars spin down, the Y-point moves outwards at a rate depending on
reconnection efficiency, the two extreme cases being on one hand no shift thus RY = cst
and on the other hand very efficient readjustment of the magnetic topology leading
to RY = rL . This could have interesting implications for the death line of pulsars
(Contopoulos & Spitkovsky 2006). Where ever the location of the Y-point, the circuit
must be closed by a return current. The path taken by this return current may be
along the last open field lines, the so-called separatrix but not necessarily. Indeed the
dynamics of this Y-point, even only described locally, is still delicate and controversial.
In addition, it is not clear how it influences the global structure of the magnetosphere
(Uzdensky 2003). The solution found by Contopoulos et al. (1999) is not unique. The
delicate point concerns the current sheet in the equatorial plane that was introduced so
22 J. Pétri
to say by hand in order to provide the current closure of the electric circuit. In an attempt
to remove this arbitrariness of the current sheet, Contopoulos et al. (2014) constructed
another force-free solution for the axisymmetric rotator that takes off the separatrix. The
current sheet only exists outside the light-cylinder, starting at the Y-point. Dissipation
occurs only in this current sheet which obeys to a different dynamics compared to the
standard pressure supported discontinuity. Particle acceleration in the radiation reaction
limit can effectively dissipate the Poynting flux within this current sheet (Contopoulos
2016b). A disk wind and jet geometry completely removing the current sheet in all
space is also not excluded (Lovelace et al. 2006; Sulkanen & Lovelace 1990). As these
authors emphasized, such kind of solutions are also not unique. The current sheet
problem instigated Ogura & Kojima (2003) to look deeper into the force-free and MHD
solutions of an axisymmetric rotator. They showed that the drift approximation is
violated at several light-cylinder radii. See also Takamori et al. (2014) for another method
to construct current sheet free magnetospheres. In any case the pulsar generates an
electric current originating from the polar caps. By action of the Laplace force on the
stellar crust, it brakes its rotation. The separatrix is also a privileged place to produce
the observed pulsed emission (Gruzinov 2007).

3.4. Oblique rotator

A general method to deal with force-free electrodynamics was developed by Uchida
(1997) without assuming axisymmetry through introduction of Euler potentials. However
oblique rotators are much more complex to study because the magnetic field does not
reduce to a flux function ψ as it was the case for the axisymmetric problem. Only
numerical simulations solving the time-dependent Maxwell equations can give realistic
solutions for the structure of the magnetospheric currents and fields. These results
represent major advances toward a self-consistent modelling of pulsar magnetospheres.
This novel approach was made possible thanks to progress in numerical methods for
simulations of relativistic and magnetized flows. We come back to this point in Sec. 5. It
is too rarely quoted that the net charge of the pulsar even surrounded by a corotating
magnetosphere deviates from zero. The exact value of this charge depends on the
obliquity χ and vanishes only for a perpendicular rotator (Cohen et al. 1975). Charges
are distributed within the magnetosphere and within the star itself, their relative filling
depending on general-relativistic effects. A Hamiltonian approach revealed also useful
to grab general interesting properties of oblique pulsar magnetospheres (Endean 1972,
1976). Small obliquity magnetospheres can be treated as perturbation of the aligned case
(Mestel & Wang 1982).

3.5. Energy losses

Knowing the global electrodynamics of pulsar magnetosphere, the entire current circuit
is accessible. Therefore the electromagnetic torque exerted in its interior and on its surface
Z Z
K = r ∧ (j ∧ B) dV + r ∧ (is ∧ B) dS (3.12)

can be computed. Beskin & Zheltoukhov (2014) asserted that for an orthogonal rotator
with χ = 90◦ , the toroidal magnetic field component is much less than the poloidal one
in such a way that
r
R
B ϕ |r L ≈ B p |r L (3.13)
rL
 23
and thus a spindown rate much smaller for the orthogonal case compared to the aligned
case. However, simulations show that the spindown is the same in both geometries within
a factor two, therefore the current in the magnetosphere must be much higher in the or-
thogonal rotator to compensate for the decrease in Poynting flux. Beskin & Zheltoukhov
(2014) also claimed that in such a magnetosphere Ω(t) sin χ(t) = cst. The obliquity has
a tendency to increase with time on a timescale τχ ≈ P/2Ṗ conflicting with the vacuum
expectations.

3.6. Quantitative magnetospheric structure

In some special cases, exact analytical solutions have been found with and without
longitudinal currents. They are summarized in chapter two of Beskin (2010). They
represent interesting models to understand and quantify the back reaction of the current
onto the magnetosphere. Let us briefly remind some general comments. In the force-free
case, solutions only exist in regions where E < c B otherwise the force-free condition
would be violated. Moreover, if jk = 0, it can be shown that the magnetic field must be
perpendicular to the light cylinder and therefore no Poynting flux crosses this surface.
So we get the important results that no spindown is allowed in the force-free regime if
there is no longitudinal current. In addition, the poloidal current tends to concentrate
magnetic field lines towards the equator. If jk ≫ jcor then the light surface is rejected to
infinity otherwise with jk ≪ jcor there exists a natural boundary on the force-free region
given by E = c B and close to the light-cylinder. Petrova (2013) gave recently also a new
exact analytical solution for the axisymmetric magnetosphere. Special focus along the
magnetic axis was also performed by Petrova (2012).
Let us stress that the space charge really available in a pulsar can drastically deviate
from the charge necessary to screen the electric field, several processes are list below
• particles inertia (Michel 1974a).
• curvature of field lines (Arons 1981).
• general relativistic effect (Beskin 1990; Muslimov & Tsygan 1992).
• inefficient particles extraction (Ruderman & Sutherland 1975).

4. Other effects on the magnetosphere

So far, most of the pulsar magnetosphere investigations tried to solve Maxwell equa-
tions in flat space-time assuming the lowest order magnetic field structure: a rotating
dipole. There are several caveats to these assumptions. First it is clear that close to
the neutron star, especially at the polar caps, strong gravity effects would distort the
electromagnetic fields due to space-time curvature and frame dragging. Second, it is not
excluded that higher multipolar components exist in the magnetosphere, producing polar
cap shapes very different from the dipole. These could in principle be observed in the
pulsed radio emission through the pulse profile and phase resolved polarization signature
and maybe also in high energy light curves. Third, young pulsars and even more so for
magnetars, the magnetic field strength approaches or exceeds the critical value Bqed .
Quantum electrodynamics corrections should then be applied to the magnetosphere
according to for instance the effective Euler-Heisenberg Lagrangian (Heisenberg & Euler
1936). A direct indisputable consequence of QED is pair creation in the vicinity of the
surface, a crucial effect to fill the magnetosphere with charged particles. We briefly
comment on these issues in this section.
24 J. Pétri
4.1. General relativity
Soon after the discovery of the first pulsar, there was no doubt that it harbours a
strongly magnetised and rotating neutron star. The electromagnetic field generated in
vacuum for such a rotator was known since the work by Deutsch (1955) although applied
to non compact stars. But we know that neutron star are very compact because of a
compactness parameter given by eq. (2.5), i.e. they resemble almost to black holes.
Few but exact analytical solutions exist for the structure of the magnetic field in strong
gravitational fields. For instance expressions for a static magnetic dipole field were given
by Ginzburg & Ozernoy (1964) and by Petterson (1974). Multipoles have been given by
Anderson & Cohen (1970). As for flat space-time (Michel 1973b), useful expressions exist
for the force-free monopole in Schwarzschild metric, see Lyutikov (2011) although frame
dragging was discarded.
Cohen & Toton (1974) showed in the case of an aligned rotator that the electric field
induced by the dragging of inertial frames can be as important as the field induced
by the rotation itself. These results were generalized for an oblique rotator a few
years later by Cohen & Kearney (1980) thanks to a formalism developed previously by
Cohen & Kegeles (1974b,a, 1975). This demonstrated clearly that a quantitative analysis
of the acceleration processes and radiation in the vicinity of the neutron star can only
be done by a treatment of Maxwell equations in the presence of a strong gravitational
field. In this way Pfarr (1976) looked for an approximate solution to Maxwell equations
in curved space-time let it be Schwarzschild or Kerr, through a linearized approach using
the Newman-Penrose formalism (Newman & Penrose 1962). He computed the emission
of electromagnetic waves in vacuum for a rotating dipole in general relativity with an
expression for the Poynting flux Ė depending on R/rL . He found the following expression
for a Schwarzschild metric
 
Ė⊥ 3 Rs Rs R
Ėgr ≈ 1 − + × correction in( ) (4.1)
1 + (R/rL )2 2 R R rL

thus close to Deutsch, Ė ≈ Ė⊥ (1 − (R/rL )2 ) expectation for Rs = 0. Ėgr is the

general-relativistic spindown luminosity and Ė⊥ the flat space time spindown luminos-
ity. Muslimov & Tsygan (1992) investigated the influence of space-time curvature and
frame dragging of inertial frames on the electric field at the polar caps of a pulsar.
Sengupta (1995) studied in details the electric field in Schwarzschild metric for an
aligned rotator in vacuum and plunged in a plasma. The result is an important increase
in the electric field at the surface of the star, implying a larger charge density and
therefore an acceleration of charges more efficient with possible consequences on the
high energy emission of pulsars (Gonthier & Harding 1994). The aligned rotator was
revived by Konno & Kojima (2000) for investigations of particle acceleration in vacuum.
Rezzolla et al. (2001), Zanotti & Rezzolla (2002), Rezzolla & J. Ahmedov (2004) and
Pétri (2013a) computed the effects of general relativity on the electromagnetic field
around a slowly rotating neutron star. Muslimov & Harding (1997) and Sakai & Shibata
(2003) were concerned about particle acceleration around polar caps in curved space-time.
Kojima et al. (2004) looked for approximate analytical solutions to the oblique rotator
problem in vacuum in general relativity. They furnished an approximate numerical
solution, expanded to first order. A treatment of the magnetosphere with help of Grad-
Shafranov equation has been exploited by Kim et al. (2005). Morozova et al. (2010)
studied the influence of neutron star oscillations in general relativity on the corotation
density in the magnetosphere for a aligned rotator. Pétri (2016a) made an extensive
study of force-free pulsar magnetospheres in general relativity. General relativity seems
 25
to play a decisive role for efficient pair creation at the surface (Philippov et al. 2015a;
Belyaev & Parfrey 2016).
Note that black hole magnetospheres can be treated similarly to neutron stars, except
for the presence of an event horizon for the former. The problem of this horizon is solved
by a change of spatio-temporal coordinates to the Kerr-Schild metric for instance. This
coordinate transform permitted the numerical study of the monopolar solution of the
black hole magnetosphere presented by Komissarov (2004). He used a 3+1 formulation
of electrodynamics in general relativity. It is useful for pulsars and black holes, and nicely
summarized by Komissarov (2011). Space-time is decomposed in a “absolute” time and
a three dimensional “curved space” to come back to more traditional hyperbolic systems
for Maxwell equations in flat space-time plat. Yu (2007) used the same formalism for the
force-free regime for the magnetosphere of an axisymmetric black hole. Morozova et al.
(2008) extended the general-relativistic field to a special spacetime geometry called NUT
space (Newman-Unti-Tamburino).

4.2. Multipoles
Most of pulsar emission models assume a dipolar magnetic field anchored right at
the centre of the star. This hypothesis is certainly correct far from the star, around
the light cylinder and beyond, since the high order multipoles ℓ decrease with radius
faster than low order ones, like r−(ℓ+1) . But nothing forbids the existence of significant
multipolar components in the vicinity of the star. Multipoles are easily induced by
a rotating decentred dipole. The consequences of an off-centred dipole on neutron
star proper motion and torque was the main topic in Roberts (1979). Following the
same line, Cohen & Rosenblum (1972) showed how to compute force-free multipole
components close to the surface with an extension to include general-relativistic effect
(Cohen & Rosenblum 1973). Roberts (1979) developed a general formalism for computing
the multipolar electromagnetic moments of a neutron star therewith explaining the high
velocity of pulsars by asymmetric radiation when its progenitor exploded, an early idea
by Harrison & Tademaru (1975). Krolik (1991) studied the influence of multipoles on the
estimate of millisecond pulsars magnetic field and rotational braking via their braking
index. Asseo & Khechinashvili (2002) discussed the role of multipoles on the radiation
processes and pair creation in the magnetosphere and Kantor & Tsygan (2003) evoked
the influence on the current emanating from the polar caps. Barsukov & Tsygan (2010)
showed an alteration of radiative dipolar magnetic losses because of the presence of
multipolar components. Obviously, the polar caps geometry is strongly tributary to
multipolar components (Zhang & Qiao 1996) with important consequences on radio
emission but also on pair creation in such fields (Jones 1980; Harding & Muslimov 2011).
Magnetic multipoles also have an impact on accretion processes to spin up neutron stars
to millisecond periods. The derived spin-up line in the P − Ṗ diagram could constrain
multipole moments (Arons 1993).
Very recently, Bonazzola et al. (2015) and Pétri (2015d) gave exact analytical expres-
sions for any multipolar electromagnetic field in vacuum. It represents a generalisation
of the Deutsch field solutions in terms of spherical Hankel functions. Arzamasskiy et al.
(2015) investigated the influence of an aspherical shape of the neutron star onto its
rotational motion and showed that even a very small ellipticity leads to a precession of
period compatible with timing residuals. They took into account the presence of a plasma
in the magnetosphere. Aspherical shapes can also give rise to multipolar fields.
Observational support for the presence of multipoles are given already for main
sequence stars. Stift (1974) looked at decentred dipole in stars with a displacement
along the magnetic axis. Off centred dipole is already present in AP Stars to solve the
26 J. Pétri
asymmetry problem between the north and south hemisphere (Landstreet 1970). An
off-centred dipole is also the preferred way to explain Zeeman line profile as explained
in Borra (1974). In the context of high-energy processes around compact objects, the
radio emission of PSR J2144-3933 is explained with a novel model about pair creation in
the magnetosphere (Zhang et al. 2000) or simply by the presence of intense multipolar
components of the surface magnetic field in all radio pulsars (Gil & Mitra 2001; Gil et al.
2002).
Magnetospheric topologies that deviate slightly or significantly from a pure dipole
represent attractive explanations for many electromagnetic phenomena occurring in the
neighbourhood of neutron stars. Twisted magnetospheres are especially investigated to
understand flares in magnetars (Beloborodov 2009; Viganò et al. 2011; Pili et al. 2015;
Akgün et al. 2016) and also to account for the mode switching and related spindown
changes in intermittent pulsars (Huang et al. 2016).

4.3. Quantum electrodynamics

The ultra strong magnetic field inferred from the global energetics of pulsars approaches
or even exceeds the quantum critical value of Bqed . Quantum electrodynamics is there-
fore required to correctly describe the physics in such field. Pair creation is the most
important effect, feeding the neutron star surrounding with fresh and ultra relativistic
electron/positron pairs. But this process works on a local scale useful to understand
microphysics phenomena. The question arises of the impact of quantum electrodynamics
on the global energetic evolution of pulsar spin-down luminosity. This topic was touched
by several authors and it seems that even for magnetar field strengths, the corrections
from QED remain weak (Heyl & Hernquist 1997). QED effects can be combined to
general relativity in the 3+1 formalism as shown by Pétri (2015a). Applications for a
static oblique dipole are given by Pétri (2016b). Recent numerical simulations of GRQED
and GRFFQED rotating dipole confirm the absence of significant corrections to the
spindown (Petri 2016).
On a smaller scale, the strong magnetic field anchored into the neutron star induces
vacuum birefringence and modifies the way electromagnetic waves propagate in vacuum
(Ho & Lai 2001; Lai & Ho 2003; Ho & Lai 2003; Gapochka et al. 2015). Especially, two
normal modes that have mutual orthogonal polarisation travel at different speed in the
magnetosphere (Harding & Lai 2006; Denisov et al. 2014). Abishev et al. (2016) esti-
mated that the delay observed by a detector at Earth would be of the order ∆t ≈10−8 s,
but unfortunately too weak for current instrumentations. Denisov & Svertilov (2005)
showed that gravity can be combined with QED to study light propagation in a realistic
neutron star environment. See also Freytsis & Gralla (2016) for a broader discussion
about force-free theories including a general Lagrangian not necessarily issued from
quantum electrodynamics. Bending of light ray due to QED effects was also mentioned
by several groups like Shabad & Usov (1982, 1984) and Denisov & Svertilov (2003).
Non linear electrodynamics induces a supplementary redshift compared to gravitation
rendering the compactness M/R difficult to estimate (Mosquera Cuesta & Salim 2004).

4.4. Pair creation

Along field lines with strong intensity, electrons and positrons copiously radiate syn-
2
chrotron photon on a very short cooling time scale of about τsyn ≈ c/ωB re ≈10−15 s
thus much smaller that the pulsar period. To a good approximation, we can say that
in vacuum, leptons reach quasi instantaneously ultra relativistic speed as soon as they
a created around the poles. Besides synchrotron emission, curvature radiation furnishes
 27
also numerously photons disintegrating in this magnetic field via the channel
γ + B → e− + e+ (4.2)
according to a probability per unit length given by Erber (1966) from which we deduced
a mean free path of
 
4.4 Bqed 4
l≈ λe exp . (4.3)
αsf B⊥ 3χ
with
ǫγ B⊥
χ= 2
(4.4)
2 me c Bqed
valid in the limit χ ≪ 1. Curvature emission is not the only source of electron/positron
pairs in polar caps. Indeed, it was realized in the middle 1990-s (Kundt & Schaaf 1993;
Sturner et al. 1995; Luo 1996; Zhang & Qiao 1996) that inverse Compton scattering of
the thermal radiation from the star surface provides gamma-rays decaying in pairs at
energies of primary electrons much smaller than a few TeV required by the classical
models. The process has been extensively studied in the literature.
Secondary plasma generations are created following two different models
• for Ruderman & Sutherland (1975), particles can not freely escape from the surface
thus producing a charge density different from corotation ρ 6= ρcor . The longitudinal
electric field builds up approximatively like
dEk ρ − ρcor
= (4.5)
dh ε0
in the corotating frame where Ek is the parallel electric field and h the altitude measured
from the surface. Particles do not circulate freely and the longitudinal electric field
becomes with the Ruderman-Sutherland field ERS and H the size of the gap
H −h
Ek = ERS (4.6)
H
• to the contrary for Fawley et al. (1977); Scharlemann et al. (1978); Arons & Scharlemann
(1979), they circulate freely leading to the boundary conditions on the gaps as
Ek (h = 0) = Ek (H = 0) = 0 and corotation charge density ρ = ρcor .
Primary particles are believed to reach E ≈107 MeV whereas secondary pairs only
painfully reach E ≈102 -104 MeV with a particle distribution function close to N (E) ∝
E −2 and a multiplicity κ ≈103 -104 (Beskin 2010). The global picture of the polar outflow
is a primary beam of charged particles with high Lorentz factor γb ≈ 107 producing
cascades of e± pairs at a multiplicity κ ≈102 -104 with lower Lorentz factor γs ≈ 102 − 103
(Arendt & Eilek 2002). These pairs are produced by resonant or non resonant inverse
Compton scattering, depending on the neutron star surface temperature, and curvature
radiation (Hibschman & Arons 2001a,b). Radiation emanating from this pair creation
process was investigated by Luo & Ji (2015) using the Vlasov-Maxwell equations.

4.5. Magnetic reconnection

Removing the ideal MHD or force-free regime by adding resistivity or other dissipative
effects leads to violation of the flux freezing condition. In addition, a rearrangement of the
magnetic topology is expected via magnetic reconnection. This process can drastically
perturb the initial magnetic configuration and induces non stationary states in the mag-
netosphere. Already in the early 70s Scargle & Pacini (1971) claimed that an explosive
inflation of the magnetospheric plasma could explain the observed glitch phenomena
28 J. Pétri
in the Crab pulsar. Tearing instability were very popular in the 80s and applied for
an electron-positron plasma in pulsar magnetospheres by Shukla et al. (1987) as an
onset for magnetic reconnection events. Contopoulos (2005, 2007b) invoked reconnection
in the vicinity of the light-cylinder with possible implications for the braking index
(Contopoulos 2007a). The slowing down of the neutron star inflates the size of the
light-cylinder. Open field lines in the vicinity of the separatrix must reconnect and
close switching to the closed and corotating part of the plasma. This can be seen as
a shift in the Y-point. According to Ardavan (1976b) the force-free condition or more
generally the ideal MHD regime is violated whenever the criterion (L c/ωp )2 ≪ 1 is
nor more satisfied where L is a typical gradient scale of macroscopic quantities, and ωp
the plasma proper frame frequency. Therefore corotation cannot be maintain outside a
critical radius rc < rL comprised inside the light-cylinder and depending on local plasma
conditions. The exact expression for the particle Lorentz factor near the light-cylinder
found by Ardavan (1976b) has been criticized by Burman (1977b). He forgot to include
inertial drift in his integral of motion (Burman 1980a,b). Recently Bogovalov (2014)
showed that bulk flow acceleration to very high Lorentz factor like Γ ≈ (1 − r2 /rL2 )−1
can occur close to the light-cylinder provided magnetic field lines are swept forward in the
hope to explain very high energy pulsed emission of the Crab. An alternative production
of these VHE would be by parallel electric field acceleration in the outer gap close to
the light-cylinder (Bednarek 2012) but this mechanism has been criticized by Hirotani
(2014).

4.6. Magnetospheric oscillations

Already in 1965, Cameron (1965) suggested that neutron star oscillations could gen-
erate electromagnetic activity in a neutron star magnetosphere and account for the X-
ray observations in the Crab nebula known at that time. Investigations of oscillations
above the polar caps have been conducted by many authors to generate for instance
radio wave (Rylov 1978), two-stream instabilities maintaining oscillations converted into
radiation (Lyubarskij 1993) or to explain the drifting subpulses (Clemens & Rosen 2004).
Oscillations could triggered magnetospheric activity and related radio emission of normal
pulsars and magnetars (Lin et al. 2015). Stellar oscillations impact on the maximum
Lorentz factor of particles accelerated in the polar cap (Zanotti et al. 2012). Oscillations
in magnetars are able to shift the radio emission generation threshold to less restrictive
regions in the P − Ṗ diagram (Morozova et al. 2012). Oscillations are relevant for
magnetar quasi-periodic oscillations (Abdikamalov et al. 2009). Kojima & Kato (2014)
included some resistivity prescription and perturbed the magnetosphere through torsional
shear oscillations hoping to explain X-ray and gamma-ray flares in magnetars. The
presence of a plasma oscillating in the magnetosphere modifies the energy loss depending
on the oscillation frequency compared to vacuum (Timokhin et al. 2000).
Usually the matter content of pulsar magnetospheres is assumed to be made of light
particles, leptons that do not contribute significantly to the total mass of the pulsar.
Nevertheless, several authors considers the effect of mass loaded magnetosphere, in
particular to shift the Y-point inside the light cylinder towards the star (Pustilnik 1977).
This author also predicted possible episodes of mass ejection to be related to the glitches.
Tsui (2015) argued that depending on the plasma and magnetic energy content within
the magnetosphere, the pulsar may expel matter sporadically outside the light-cylinder.
An important question raised recently by several authors concerns the connection
between the neutron star interior to its exterior, i.e. its magnetosphere. Usually the former
community assumes vacuum outside whereas the latter community assumes specific
boundary conditions on the surface. Obviously, this approach is neither satisfactory for
 29
the first nor for the second community. Thus any realistic solution to pulsar magneto-
sphere should join smoothly the interior field to the exterior field. Such rather new inves-
tigations including both domains are possible as demonstrated by Ruiz et al. (2014) who
computed the Poynting flux depending on equations of state and compactness. Matching
ideal MHD simulations with the force-free schemes was used by Paschalidis & Shapiro
(2013) to compute neutron star magnetospheres. Glampedakis et al. (2014) and Pili et al.
(2015) undertook similar studies. Belvedere et al. (2015) even attempted to compute the
full solution inside and outside with realistic equations of state and account of all funda-
mental interactions including general relativity and results from quantum mechanics.

4.7. Non-corotating and highly rotating magnetosphere

In the simplest description of the plasma motion, the electromagnetic field achieves a
configuration imposing perfect corotation of particles at most up to the light-cylinder.
We stress that this fact is an assumption and not a result of the model. Therefore
the question “Does pulsar magnetosphere really corotate with the underlying neutron
star?” is meaningful. Such questioning was the subject of several papers among them
Melrose & Yuen (2012, 2014, 2016) who were preoccupied by the neglect of the inductive
electric field in MHD or force-free magnetospheres. Differential rotation of for instance
the open field lines due to potential drop above the polar cap changes the value of the
electric current density and impacts on the braking index (Timokhin 2007a,b).
Dissipation regions were charges are able to cross field lines are compulsory to close the
current and transfer angular momentum outside the light cylinder. Fitzpatrick & Mestel
(1988b) and Fitzpatrick & Mestel (1988a) looked for such solutions.
Deutsch (1955) electromagnetic field expressions, although being an exact analytical
solution to Maxwell equations, fails to give an accurate picture of relativistically
rotating neutron stars when R/rL → 1 because it assumes non relativistic rotation.
Belinsky & Ruffini (1992); Belinsky et al. (1994) gave an answer to this problem and
showed an analogy with synchrotron radiation. de Paolis et al. (1995) proposed an
alternative derivation of this relativistic rotating dipole. The increase in spindown
power is counterbalanced by gravitational effects when the mass of the dipole is added
(Herbst et al. 2013).

5. Numerical simulations
Searching for an analytical solution to the problem of the magnetospheric structure
is very cumbersome or even impossible in a realistic situation. Another complementary
approach allowing deeper and more quantitative insight consists to perform numerical
simulations of the temporal evolution of the magnetosphere. We then hope to observe
relaxation to a stationary equilibrium state. The level of complexity of these simulations
relies on the approximation used to described the behaviour of plasmas interacting with
the stellar electromagnetic field, radiative corrections and self-consistent treatment of
particle injection through pair formation. Starting with the crudest physical description
known as the force-free approximation, useful to investigate neutron star but also black
hole magnetospheres on the largest scales, several other plasma regimes have been or
should be explored in the future. The so far most extensively studied are
• force-free (magnetodynamics): charge and current carriers have no or negligible mass.
They respond instantaneously to the external electromagnetic field to furnish the required
charge and current densities imposed by the evolution of the fields. The matter stress-
energy tensor vanishes. No energy dissipation occurs.
30 J. Pétri
• resistive magnetodynamics: in order to allow for dissipation and transfer of energy
from the field to the particles, some resistive terms are added to the force-free current.
The resistivity prescription is not unique and loosely constrained. Motion of the plasma
is not solved.
• magnetohydrodynamics (MHD): particle inertia is taken into account and the full
stress-energy tensor, matter and field, is solved. Simulations are performed in the ideal
limit or in the resistive regime.
• multi-fluids: the electron/positron plasma does not strictly follow the MHD system
because both particle species have the same mass. The usual MHD ordering according to
the masses is therefore impossible. Multi-fluid schemes evolve each species independently,
the coupling going through electromagnetic interactions via Lorentz forces. Binary col-
lisions between particles irrespective of their species is treated following Monte Carlo
techniques.
• fully kinetic treatment: convenient to account for individual particle acceleration
towards distribution functions that are out of thermal equilibrium. Needs to solve the
full Vlasov-Maxwell equations and thus very expensive computationally.
• radiation reaction limit: particles in pulsar magnetospheres radiate copiously up to
the point where any acceleration is compensated by radiation reaction. In this special
case, particle motion can be solve analytically to give an expression for the velocity (equal
to the speed of light) only in terms of the external electromagnetic field. It represents
an interesting alternative to the full Vlasov-Maxwell approach in the strong radiation
reaction limit.
Let us pinpoint the merit of all these approximations.

5.1. Force-free electrodynamics (FFE)

Force-free electrodynamics leads to some degeneracy in its physical interpretation.
Indeed, under such hypothesis, two interpretations are plausible
• either the plasma is non neutral therefore completely charge separated. This cor-
responds to a weak density of particles in the magnetosphere with (n+ , n− ) ≈ ncor .
Complete charge separation has been criticized by Salvati (1973).
• either ideal MHD applies. This implies a quasi-neutral plasma therefore a large
particle density number in this same magnetosphere with n = n+ + n− ≫ ncor with
n+ ≈ n− but a small difference to let room for a possible small electric charge density
such that there |n+ − n− | ≪ n.
Which of this view prevails in a realistic magnetosphere? It depends on the injection
rate of charged particles, a direct consequence of efficient pair formation in the vacuum
gaps, a still unsolved problem. Nevertheless nebulas seem to prefer the second option of
a dense plasma, we will explain why in the section about pulsar winds. However, major
problems arise from unconstrained global features, namely
• the total charge of the star and its surrounding magnetosphere remains uncon-
strained and worse not necessarily null. However, Jackson (1976b,a) gave an argument
to constrain the electric charge of the star to such a value to stop leakage towards the
nebula, assuming that only electrons leave the star.
• in the same vein the total electric current does not necessarily vanish.
• as a corollary the total charge of the system “star+magnetosphere” is neither
necessarily conserved nor constrained (so back to first point).
This did not prohibit Spitkovsky (2006) to realise the first three dimensional simulation
of an oblique rotator. The electric current is only a function of the electromagnetic field,
charges must adjust themselves their position and velocity to be able to furnish the
required charge and current density fulfilling the force-free condition eq. (3.5) such that
 31
(Gruzinov 1999)
E ∧ B B · ∇ × B/µ0 − ε0 E · ∇ × E
j = ρe + B (5.1a)
B2 B2
ρe = ε 0 ∇ · E . (5.1b)

Independently Kalapotharakos & Contopoulos (2009) implemented a similar algorithm

but treating the boundary conditions more satisfactorily with help of perfectly matched
layers (PML), a technique described by Berenger (1994, 1996). Kalapotharakos et al.
(2012a) then extended the simulation box to tenth of rL . Note that in all these simula-
tions, no account of the current parallel to the magnetic field is taken, only the electric
drift current, the term proportional to E ∧ B in expression (5.1a) is really computed, a
limitation due to the finite difference scheme they used. The force-free aligned rotator
has been reinvestigated by several authors like Gruzinov (2005), McKinney (2006) and
Timokhin (2006). A analytical study of the influence of the relativistic space charge
limited outflow was undertaken by Muslimov & Harding (2005). Lastly, the computa-
tion of light curves associated to these simulations performed by Kalapotharakos et al.
(2012b) offers an efficient test to check the conjectured hypothesis. Goodwin et al. (2004)
attempted to look analytically about non dissipative force-free magnetospheres using
Fourier transform techniques in 2D.
Let us emphasize some drawbacks of the first ever 3D simulations
• the ratio R/rL = 0.2 is too large, it corresponds to an unrealistic pulsar of period
as low as 1 ms.
• the cartesian geometry does not permit a satisfactory treatment of boundary condi-
tions at the stellar surface.
• the outer bound of the numerical box leads to inconvenient reflections polluting the
interior of the domain for long time runs.
• these simulations use E · B cleaning techniques which in effect introduce a parallel
electric current that shorts out this E · B. This method achieves the same purpose as the
parallel electric current term in equation (5.1a).
• a current sheet forms, separating field lines attached to the north pole from those
attached to the south pole. It represents a singular surface difficult to catch numerically
and physically not realistic. The ideal MHD or force-free approximation fails, dissipation
should play an important role in this current sheet.
Pétri (2012) has partially eliminated some of these drawbacks by formulating a new al-
gorithm to solve Maxwell equations with help of pseudo-spectral methods. The main idea
is to expand the unknown fields into vector spherical harmonics. Application examples
of this technique in electromagnetism are available in Lambert (1978) and Barrera et al.
(1985). At the same time, Parfrey et al. (2012) developed a similar technique but only
in axisymmetric geometry that was recently reinvestigated by Cao et al. (2016b). The
superiority of this novel method is indisputable, from both the point of view of numerical
precision, boundary condition treatment and computational resources. The perpendicular
rotator is shown in fig. 7, the structure of the magnetic field lines in the equatorial plane
are visible in red solid lines. To ease the comparison with the vacuum rotator we overlap
the two-armed spiral in blue solid line in order to localize the discontinuity. Adjustment
is done by eye and it is necessary to add a small phase shift with respect to vacuum
to correctly reproduce the sheet. From the force-free simulations, the power radiated by
Poynting flux for an oblique rotator can be deduced and fitted with a simple relation
3 vac
Lsp ≈ L (1 + sin2 χ) (5.2)
2 ⊥
 32 J. Pétri

GRFFE orthogonal dipole

2
10
8
6 1
4
2
y/rL

y/rL
0 0
-2
-4
-6 -1
-8
-10
-10 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10 -2
-2 -1 0 1 2
x/rL
x/rL
Figure 7. Magnetospheric structure of the perpendicular rotator for a general relativistic dipole
magnetic field with R/rL = 0.2 and R/Rs = 2. The distances are normalized to the light cylinder
radius. A spiral arm form where field lines change polarity. This special geometry is at the heart
of the striped wind model, Sec. 7.

in agreement with Spitkovsky (2006). The presence of a magnetospheric plasma multiplies

by three these losses compared to vacuum. The aligned rotator also radiates at a rate
of Lsp ≈ 32 Lvac
⊥ . This contrasts radically with the solution for an aligned rotator in
vacuum which does not radiate. Moreover Pétri (2012) demonstrated that the total charge
of the star+magnetosphere system does not vanish except in the particular case of a
perpendicular rotator. This is reminiscent of the point charge located at the stellar centre
eq. (2.12). It is questionable how such a charge could subsist without cancellation by
attraction of particles of the opposite sign from the surrounding. To conclude about
those simulations, the luminosity of a plasma filled magnetosphere is of the same order
of magnitude as the dipole in vacuum. It is therefore delicate to make a definite distinction
observationally between these two models simply by inspection of the power radiated.

5.2. Resistive force-free electrodynamics

The current sheet appearing in the above mentioned simulations is an artefact of the
force-free approximation. It would also appear in ideal MHD simulations. In this region, a
non negligible resistivity should soften the discontinuity. The force-free electrodynamics
in its simplest form does not allow for dissipation in the flow because it corresponds
to an infinite conductivity. Although it should not be such a drawback for the global
magnetospheric structure, it is really a pain to elucidate locally the location of emission
regions where particle acceleration occurs and radiation is produced. The force-free
approximation can not account for particle acceleration nor for pulsed emission in the
magnetosphere. This impossibility goes back to the condition E · B = 0 which is to
restrictive. We should allow for a Ek and/or for regions where E > c B. Such prescriptions
have been proposed for the current in the magnetosphere, alleviating the prescription in
eq.(5.1a). This requires a parallel electric field that by the force-free assumption does not
exist. To circumvent this disadvantage, some less restrictive magnetodynamics regimes
 33
have been developed, a kind of resistive magnetodynamics. Whereas the prescription in
the force-free limit leads to a definite an precise expression for the current density, it
is less clear how to impose this current when the flow becomes dissipative or resistive.
There is no unique prescription to generalize Ohm’s law in this regime. Some degree of
freedom is available for the exact expression of the current j. Several examples of a kind
of generalized resistive Ohm’s law for a relativistic pair plasma have been suggested by
Li et al. (2012b), Kalapotharakos et al. (2012c) and Lyutikov (2003). Gruzinov (2008)
proposed an approximation called strong field electrodynamics and giving the current
p
ρe E ∧ B + ρ2e + γ 2 σ 2 E02 /c2 (E0 E/c + c B0 B)
j= . (5.3)
B 2 + E02 /c2
The σ parameter cannot be interpreted as a conductivity because for σ = 0 the vacuum
case is not retrieved. Actually this expression is valid for a plasma entirely charge
separated and subject to radiation reaction in the ultra-relativistic regime, see below.
Indeed, for σ = 0 we found
ρe E ∧ B + |ρe | (E0 E/c + c B0 B)
j= . (5.4)
B 2 + E02 /c2
Another approximation consists of writing Ohm’s law in the fluid rest frame where the
electric and magnetic field are aligned and then Lorentz transform to the lab frame. In
such a way Li et al. (2012b) found an expression function of the fluid velocity along the
field lines, βk c which remains undetermined, such that
q
ρe E ∧ B + (−βk ρe + γ 2 (1 − βk2 ) σ E0 /c) (E0 E/c + c B0 B)
j= . (5.5)
B 2 + E02 /c2
The minimal hypothesis they choose was to set βk = 0 for lack of better knowledge about
the longitudinal speed. The current then simplifies into
ρe E ∧ B + γ σ E0 /c (E0 E/c + c B0 B)
j= (5.6)
B 2 + E02 /c2
which is Ohm’s law for a relativistic quasi neutral plasma
j = γ σ (E + v ∧ B − (E · v) v) + ρe v (5.7)
with a drift speed given by
E∧B
vdrift,res = (5.8)
B2+ E02 /c2
and an associated Lorentz factor
E02 + c2 B 2
γ2 = (5.9)
E02 + c2 B02
The current is then exactly the one obtained from the minimal hypothesis with βk = 0.
The origin of the conductivity was not explicitly stated in these works but turbulence in a
relativistic plasma could account for sharp variation of the effective conductivity within
the magnetosphere. According to Kaplan et al. (1974) the conductivity increases with
distance to the star, which is opposite to the FIDO model used by Kalapotharakos et al.
(2014). The latter work used an Ohm law given by
E∧B
j = ρe + σ Ek (5.10)
B2 + E02 /c2
34 J. Pétri
which has been reexplored using spectral methods by Cao et al. (2016a). Earlier attempts
to design a generalized Ohm law are given by Burman (1977c,a). Switching between
vacuum and high conducting magnetosphere furnishes an explanation for the braking
index variation during on and off states (Li et al. 2012a).

5.3. Ideal and resistive MHD

Since the determination of this resistivity is debated, it seems more judicious to relax
the resistive magnetodynamics condition and explore the MHD realm, including particle
inertia, and even pressure, as for the aligned rotator which is also a more realistic ap-
proach. We can also take advantage of the remarks made by Komissarov (2006). The most
satisfactory method would certainly require a multi-fluid or better a kinetic approach.
The MHD approach to pulsar magnetosphere was performed by Tchekhovskoy et al.
(2013). Kojima & Oogi (2009) adopted this multi-fluid track performing two-fluid cold
plasma simulations but so far only for the aligned rotator. Some analytical description
of a two-fluid axisymmetric pulsar magnetosphere is given by Petrova (2015). Resistive
methods are usually constrained by stiff source terms depending on the conductivity
parameter. Such difficulties are overcome by introducing implicit-explicit Rung-Kutta
(IMEX) schemes as implemented by Palenzuela (2013). MHD type of waves exist in
pulsar magnetospheres but need to take the charge density into account (Urpin 2011).
Simulations of monopoles and axisymmetric dipoles performed by Bucciantini et al.
(2006) revealed that depending on the resistivity, the location of the Y point can shift
well inside the light-cylinder modifying the spindown rate from the standard acceptance
that RY = rL .

5.4. Kinetic methods

The full description of the plasma would require solutions of the Vlasov-Maxwell
equations. It offers the most detailed view of the magnetospheric plasma configuration
and allows deep diagnostics of particle acceleration regions. Unfortunately these equations
are numerically very difficult to solve because distribution functions are defined in six
dimensions, three space coordinates and three momenta coordinates. A less stringent
technique employs particle in cell (PIC) methods. They were successfully applied by
Wada & Shibata (2007) to elucidate the link between the active magnetosphere and the
pulsar wind by including a possible pair creation mechanism with radiation reaction
forces. These works were took up later with a better resolution, a higher number
of particles by Wada & Shibata (2011). They set up an electrostatic approximation,
neglecting the feedback of the current onto the magnetic field, supposed dipolar and
immutable. However this is justified only when the magnetospheric current density is
weak. Yuki & Shibata (2012) described very similar studies. Umizaki & Shibata (2010)
focused on a detailed study of the Y point in the aligned rotator, i.e. the cusp point of
the last field line just grazing the light cylinder. These PIC methods are indisputably
much more promising to model the pulsar magnetosphere.
Starting with a full 3D PIC code, Philippov & Spitkovsky (2014) studied axisymmetric
configurations. Then Philippov et al. (2015b) presented 3D PIC simulations of the pulsar
magnetosphere with conclusions very similar to the MHD magnetosphere performed
by Tchekhovskoy et al. (2013). Chen & Beloborodov (2014) used PIC simulations and
included pair creation from the polar cap up to the light cylinder to look at the filling
properties of the magnetosphere. They found solutions very similar to the force-free
limit for large pair injection but relaxation to an electrosphere for too low injection
rates. Belyaev (2015) looked at the transfer of energy between the Poynting flux and
 35
the particle. He found that roughly 20% goes into particle acceleration and up to 50%
if the electric field is not sufficiently screened by the presence of a plasma. Similarly,
Cerutti et al. (2015) performed 2D axisymmetric PIC simulations of the aligned rotator
to look at particle acceleration in the equatorial plane containing the current sheet (that
otherwise in 3D would be called the striped wind part). Depending on the particle
injection rate, they found that up to 30% of magnetic energy is dissipated within several
light-cylinder radii.
Very recently, first attempts have been made by Cerutti et al. (2016) to include
radiation reaction self-consistently into a fully 3D PIC code in order to observe particle
acceleration and jointly to extract light curves. PIC simulations do not put particles
arbitrary into the magnetosphere as does force-free but rely on a more microphysics
explanation of pair creation. The crucial point is to adjust the efficiency to realistic
values that are unfortunately largely unconstrained.

5.5. GRFFE
The trend to move to more quantitatively accurate magnetospheres via numerical
simulations requires more physical inputs to catch the full complexity of pulsar electro-
dynamics. General relativistic effects should be accounted for to get precision better than
20%. As the quality and quantity of multi-wavelength observations increased drastically
the last decades, those refinements become compulsory. The 3+1 formalism has been
extensively used to computed general relativistic force-free solution for the neutron star
magnetosphere. Vacuum solution of Deutsch kind but in general relativity are discussed in
Pétri (2013a). The numerical simulations based on a pseudo-spectral code are described
in Pétri (2014) and extended to a discontinuous Galerkin approach in Pétri (2015c,
2016a). The conclusions drawn from SRFFE simulations remain valid and the physics
is not changed. However frame dragging seems to be required to enhance the pair
production in the polar caps (Philippov et al. 2015a) to get sufficiently high plasma
densities. Rayimbaev et al. (2015) proposed general-relativistic corrections to the charge
density along open field lines in the slow rotation approximation and including a possible
deformation of the star.

5.6. GRFFQED
QED effects are compulsory on a microscopic scale to trigger pair cascades in the strong
magnetic field of a neutron star. Single or multiple photons interactions and disintegration
into leptons are the main channels to feed the magnetosphere with a plasma. The question
arises of the effect of these strong fields onto the macroscopic scale of the order the light-
cylinder radius. Currently, investigations have been performed to account for lowest order
corrections induced by QED to the total spindown luminosity and electromagnetic field
structure around neutron stars. Because the corrections remain weak, less than the fine
structure constant for field strengths B 61010 T, preliminary results for vacuum rotators
show that QED effects are irrelevant as far as the global dynamics is concerned (Petri
2016). Plasma effects in the force-free regime are also investigated but no drastic changes
are found compared to vacuum.

5.7. Radiation reaction limit

So far, fluid simulations treated radiation in a post processing fashion, after computing
the magnetosphere structure in a force-free, MHD or resistive approximation. There is no
back reaction of emission onto particle dynamics. Because pulsar magnetospheres contain
ultra-relativistic particles radiating copiously in all wavelengths, radiative corrections
36 J. Pétri
to particle trajectories can be easily treated in the radiation reaction limit assuming
a stationary balance between acceleration and emission. Indeed, in the electromagnetic
field prevailing in the pulsar magnetosphere, the plasma suffers strong radiation reaction,
invalidating the condition E·B = 0. Particles are braked and feel a kind of frictional force
directed oppositely to their velocity such that frad = −K v. By definition the constant
K is positive and can be derived explicitly as follows. In a stationary regime, a particle
of charge q is pulled by Lorentz and radiation reaction forces such that fLorentz + frad = 0
or
q (E + v ∧ B) = K v (5.11)
Following the reasoning of Mestel (1999) it is possible to derive the speed of any particle
in a prescribed electromagnetic field in the limit where their speed is equal to c, which
is a good approximation in pulsar magnetospheres. We notice that
q E · B = K v · B 6= 0. (5.12)
The constant K is solution of
K 4 v 2 − q 2 (E 2 − v 2 B 2 ) K 2 − q 4 (E · B)2 = 0 (5.13)
assuming that the speed of the particles are near to speed of light, we solve for K to
obtain
q2 h 2 p i
K2 ≈ E − c 2 2
B ± (E 2 − c2 B 2 )2 + 4 c2 (E · B)2 . (5.14)
2 c2
The solution with negative sign has to be rejected because K 2 < 0. K is solution of the
following Lorentz invariant system
E 2 − c2 B 2 = c2 K 2 /q 2 − c2 B02 (5.15a)
E · B = c K B0 /|q| (5.15b)
c K/|q| represents the intensity of the electric field in the frame where electric and
magnetic field are aligned. The constant c K/|q| > 0 can be linked to the previous
discussion about resistive force-free electrodynamics. In that section it was depicted by
the letter E0 .
In the special case where E · B = 0 we get for E < c B the condition K 2 = 0 and for
2
E > c B the condition K 2 = qc2 (E 2 − c2 B 2 ). In the case of a general weak electric field,
E ≪ c B then K 2 = q 2 (E · B/c B)2 . Solving for the speed starting from eq. (5.11) and
using eq. (5.12) we obtain
E·B
(K 2 + q 2 B 2 ) v = q 2 E ∧ B + q K E + q 3B. (5.16)
K
The velocity can be decomposed into a drift motion superposed to a motion along E and
B such that
E∧B
vdrift,rr = 2 2 (5.17a)
E0 /c + B 2
E0 E/c2 + B0 B
vEB,rr = sign(q) . (5.17b)
E02 /c2 + B 2
For a vanishing magnetic field, the particle whatever its charge moves at the speed
of light along the electric field with velocity v = sign(q) c E/E as expected from an
almost instantaneous acceleration on time scale much shorter than any other dynamical
time (zero inertia limit). These results about the speed of particles in the radiation
reaction limit have already been given by Herold et al. (1985) and Finkbeiner et al.
 37
(1989) who also solve numerically the equation of motion including radiation reaction.
Finkbeiner et al. (1990) discussed the validity of the Lorentz-Dirac equation in pulsar
magnetospheres. A detailed study by Laue & Thielheim (1986) integrating numerically
the Lorentz Dirac equation for electrons and protons showed the particle orbits and
maximum attainable energy for a perpendicular rotator. The radiation reaction limit,
much simpler to implement as the full equation of motion, has been applied to solve the
pulsar magnetosphere topology by Gruzinov (2013), Gruzinov (2012) and Contopoulos
(2016a). They claim that two types of pulsars should exist: those that are very dissipative
and those that are not. Ferrari & Trussoni (1974) studied radiation reaction in pulsar
magnetosphere also in the context of cosmic ray acceleration.
From this general expression of the particle velocity in an electromagnetic field, we
can prescribe an electric current density including the motion of electrons and positrons.
Considering a reference particle density number n0 and introducing the pair multiplicity
parameter by κ, the charge density ρe is deduced from Maxwell-Gauss equation and
furnishes the reference particle number density. Let us use n0 as a free parameter such
that
ρe = ε 0 ∇ · E (5.18a)
e n = |ρe | (5.18b)
ρe = e (n+ − n− ) (5.18c)
j = e (n+ v+ − n− v− ) (5.18d )
n corresponds to the particle density required for the minimal hypothesis of a totally
charge separated plasma. In order to estimate the particle density number, we start from
a fully charge separated plasma and add neutral pairs e± with a multiplicity κ. We must
distinguish between two kinds of regions. If the space charge is positive we choose a
background electron density null and add pairs. Primary positrons are at a number of
e n = ρe such that
n− = κ n0 (5.19a)
ρe
n+ = κ n0 + = κ n0 + n . (5.19b)
e
If the space charge is negative we choose a background density of positrons null and add
pairs. Primary electrons are then at a number of e n = |ρe | such that
|ρe |
n− = κ n0 + = κ n0 + n (5.20a)
e
n+ = κ n0 . (5.20b)
In all cases, we notice that the total density of pairs is the same and given by n+ + n− =
n+2 κ n0. Noting that the speed vEB of electrons is opposite to that of positrons, because
K > 0 by assumption and VEB ∝ sign(q), the current becomes
j = ρe vdrift,rr + (|ρe | + 2 κ n0 e) vEB . (5.21)
For a mono-fluid description, we introduce the fluid velocity by
n+ v+ + n− v− ρe
v= = vdrift,rr + vEB . (5.22)
n+ + n− |ρe | + 2 κ n0 e
For a quasi-neutral plasma, the pair multiplicity is very high κ ≫ 1 which means that
|n+ − n− | ≪ n+ + n− . Therefore |ρe | ≪ |ρe | + 2 κ n0 e and to first approximation the fluid
velocity is simply equal to the electric drift motion v = vD . Injecting this expression in
Ohm’s relativistic law, we get the current from the minimal hypothesis of eq. (5.6).
38 J. Pétri
5.8. Observational signature of magnetospheric structure
Remotely diagnosing magnetospheric activity in pulsar physics requires predictions or
better a posteriori adjustments of dynamical and geometric parameters such as particle
injection rate, obliquity of pulsar and inclination of line of sight. Several works in the
last decade tried to matched recent gamma-ray light-curves obtained from Fermi/LAT
(Abdo et al. 2013) assuming different plasma regimes. For instance Bai & Spitkovsky
(2010b) tested the simple vacuum dipole and compared predicted light-curves with ob-
servations. In a second trial Bai & Spitkovsky (2010a) used the force-free magnetosphere
obtained from previously mentioned simulations with seemingly better fits. Actually
the latter model should not radiate because force-free is dissipationless. The location
of emission sites is left at the discretion of the physicists. The same and other authors
used results from resistive or more generally speaking dissipative prescriptions to compute
characteristic pulse profiles (Kalapotharakos et al. 2012b, 2014; Brambilla et al. 2015).
Brambilla et al. (2015) tried to get observational signatures of a dissipative magneto-
sphere through the computation of gamma-ray light-curves. They used the Force-free
Inside Dissipative Outside (FIDO) model described by Kalapotharakos et al. (2014) to
best fit the data. Why no dissipation should apply inside the light-cylinder remains
mysterious on a physical ground. Full PIC simulations also start to predict light curves
although results are still preliminary (Cerutti et al. 2016). They do not make assumptions
about emission sites, they are self-consistently determined by the simulations themselves.
Sometimes, breakdown of force-free regime is stated in the vicinity of the light-cylinder,
allowing efficient particle acceleration and associated intense X-ray and gamma-ray
emission (Mestel & Shibata 1994). Angular momentum is carried away by the relativistic
wind and current closure must occur outside the light-cylinder (Shibata 1994). Moreover,
possible synchro-Compton emission in the vicinity of the light-cylinder was already
reported by Ferrari & Trussoni (1975).
To summarizes in a very condensed way the results obtained so far from numerical
simulations of relativistic plasmas in force-free, MHD or kinetic regimes we show the fitted
spindown luminosities in table 3. Note that for all the above mentioned simulation results
the Y-point is locate at the light-cylinder and therefore the spindown rate implicitly
assumes that RY = rL . However according to the axisymmetric FFE magnetosphere
constructed by Timokhin (2006), this slowdown is drastically enhanced when the Y-
point is shifted well inside the light-cylinder. As claimed by Timokhin (2010), the mode
changing and nulling of some pulsars could be interpreted by a movable Y-point.

6. Electrosphere models
All previous models assumed a magnetosphere entirely filled with a relativistic plasma
made essentially of electron/positron pairs at a high multiplicity factor κ ≫ 1 (but
still not enough to fully explain observations). This implies a quasi-neutral state of
the plasma. However this configuration is plausibly unstable depending on the rate of
particle injection from the polar caps as observed in recent numerical simulations. The
simplest idea consists therefore to construct a nearly corotative electrosphere, that is
a magnetosphere partially filled with a non-neutral plasma in which charged particles,
from one species or another (electrons, positrons, protons or ions), are present and rotate
at a speed close but not equal to that of the star. If this non neutral plasma enters in
solid body rotation with the star, then from a purely electrical point of view, nothing
will distinguish this charge separated space region from the star. The neutron star can
then equivalently be seen as a larger sphere of radius Rel introduced in the braking
 39

Plasma regime f (χ) Ref.

Vacuum ≈ (1 − a2 ) sin2 χ (Deutsch 1955)
QED vacuum ≈ (1.0 − a2 + O(αsf )) sin2 χ Petri (2016)
GR vacuum ≈ (1.0 + 1.1 a) sin2 χ (Pétri 2014, 2016a)
GRQED vacuum ≈ (1.0 + 1.1 a + O(αsf )) sin2 χ Petri (2016)
FFE ≈ 32 (1.0 + 1.2 sin2 χ) (Spitkovsky 2006; Pétri 2012)
FFQED ≈ 32 (1.0 + 1.2 sin2 χ) Petri (2016)
GRFFE ≈ 32 (1.1 + 1.6 sin2 χ) (Pétri 2016a )
GRFFQED ≈ 32 (1.1 + 1.6 sin2 χ) Petri (2016)
MHD ≈ 32 (1.0 + 1.2 sin2 χ) (Tchekhovskoy et al. 2013)
Table 3. Spindown luminosity expectations from simulations assuming different plasma regimes.
The results are f (χ) = f0 + f1 sin2 χ with a = R/rL and for R = 2 Rs in GR. For force-free
simulations, the coefficients f0 , f1 depend slightly on a, they are not included here but given for
a = 0.1.

non neutral plasma neutral plasma

one sign charge neutral on large scales with boundary effects
easily trapped unstable, diffusion, hardly trapped
long time scale short time scale
finite volume diffuse in space
sharp interface with vacuum smooth transition
fixed charge density charge density not constrained
freezing around the Debye length weak recombination for a small Debye length weak
Table 4. The differences in behaviour between neutral and non neutral plasmas.

index eq. (2.24). The impossibility to exceed the speed of light and the hypothesis of
synchronous solid body rotation shows that this electrosphere cannot extend farther
than the radius of the light cylinder. Its extension could be even less if plasma is in
over-rotation as found in simulations from the middle 80s and beginning 2000. Curiously,
electrospheres are neither well known nor seriously studied by authors interested in pulsar
physics. We remind useful characteristics of this atypical model hoping to rise again its
attractiveness. The properties of the neutron star electrosphere has been extensively
studied in Pétri (2002) PhD thesis.

6.1. Non neutral plasma behaviour

The electrosphere model possesses a very different behaviour from that of a quasi-
neutral plasma filled magnetosphere used in force-free or MHD theory. In an electro-
sphere, the plasma is non neutral and shows properties often opposed to those of a
neutral plasma. Table 4 summarizes the divergent features of the two kind of plasmas.
Among them, we are particularly interested in particle confinement in electromagnetic
traps with variable geometry. Depending on the topology of the magnetic and electric
fields, let them be absent, constant, monopolar, dipolar or quadrupolar, the volume of the
charge separated regions will show various shapes. Table 5 furnishes a list of traps often
used by plasma physicists. A pulsar resembles may be to a rotating Terrella. Non neutral
plasmas are well studied in laboratory experiments because they are easy to confine for
a long time (Dubin & O’neil 1999). There are some analogies between charge separated
40 J. Pétri

TRap geometry Name Plasma configuration Remarks

B=0; E=monopole Charged sphere Keplerian disk Classical atom
B=0; E=oscillating quadrupole Paul Time dependent
B=const; E=quadrupole Penning Rigidly rotating sphere
B=const; E=electrodes Malmberg Rigidly rotating ellipse
B=dipole; E=monopole Charged Terrella Rigidly rotating disk
B=dipole; E=quadrupole Rotating Terrella Domes and disk Pulsar?
Table 5. Different trapping systems for a non neutral plasma. Each configuration of the
electromagnetic field generates a specific shape of the space charge distribution.

plasmas and hydrodynamics as pointed out by Wright (1978) who discussed it in the
context of non neutral pulsar magnetospheres.
The process of formation of this electrosphere is the following†. The strongly magne-
tized and rotating neutron star generates surface and volume charge distributions dic-
tated by the law of electrostatic equilibrium of a perfect conductor in its rest frame. The
electric field drags particles out of the surface towards stable equilibrium positions, the
so called force-free surfaces (FFS). Particles spread in the immediate stellar surrounding,
filling a space charge region forming an extended atmosphere called electrosphere. The
extension of this atmosphere is not dictated by thermal pressure as it would for the
traditional concept of an atmosphere but rather by the electromagnetic forces acting
on the charge separated gas. As for the filled magnetosphere, the electrospheric current
disturbs the magnetosphere when it approaches the light cylinder. However, if over-
rotation is important as we show below, this feedback could lead to perceptible magnetic
perturbations already well within the light-cylinder. Moreover, owing to the strong
magnetic field, all these particles quickly de-energize to their fundamental Landau level
through synchro-photon emission, forbidding any motion perpendicular to magnetic field
lines. They are therefore constrained to move along these field lines progressively filling
the electrosphere. But then how to fill it? Will charges of opposite sign occupy one same
region of space to reach a quasi neutral state or will they form what we call a charge
separated electrosphere where positive and negative zones are exclusively populated by
particles of one sign? Let us have a look on different models tempting to give an answer
to this question, sometimes in an arbitrary manner.
Given the predominance of electromagnetic forces compared to gravitational forces and
any other phenomenon related to particle inertia, it is justified to neglect their mass. Only
the Lorentz force exerts a significant action. In electrostatic equilibrium this force vanishes
at all places where matter subsists. In this way, in populated regions the law E+vcor ∧B =
0 is valid and electric and magnetic field are again perpendicular E · B = 0 as inside the
star or in the force-free limit. For the sake of simplicity, we ignore relativistic effects, an
approximation that is justified for an electrosphere remaining at a reasonable distance
of the light cylinder, r ≪ rL . Some generalisations are obviously conceivable. Building
on the method invented by Krause-Polstorff & Michel (1985b), Pétri et al. (2002b) have
shown the existence of such solutions for an aligned rotator, with an extension confined
well inside the light-cylinder. The solution possesses an equatorial disk in differential
rotation and two domes of charge opposite to that of the disk, fig. 8. This differential
rotation imposes a velocity larger than the stellar rotation, a new but also very important
† It may be unrealistic because the magnetosphere builds up during the collapse of the
progenitor and the formation of a neutron star. Nevertheless it helps to find a way to construct
such solutions.
 41
Structure 3D de l’électrosphère
3 Vitesse de rotation
3
2.5
2.5

Axe polaire
2
2

WHrL
1.5
1.5
1
1
0.5

1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4

0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 Rayon r
Plan équatorial

Charge stellaire Densité de charge

1 1.2

0.8 1

0.6 0.8
Σs HΘL

ΡHrL
0.6
0.4
0.4
0.2
0.2
0
20 40 60 80 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
Colatitude Θ en degré Rayon r

Figure 8. Electrosphere model of an aligned rotator obtained from semi-analytical solutions

(Pétri et al. 2002b).

aspect with deep consequences for the stability and long term evolution of such plasmas.
A pulsar maybe represents an astrophysical application of particle trapping in a rotating
Terrella.

6.2. Expectations from the model

The corotation of the electrosphere with the star stops at the light cylinder, for r > rL
or even at shorter distances if over-rotation happens. Several developments have been
proposed to replace the notion of corotation, some of them are presented here. An
important theorem due to Pilipp (1974) derived from not too restrictive assumptions
shows that a magnetosphere finite in extent with large vacuum gaps and in force-
free equilibrium cannot be in corotation with the star everywhere. As a consequence,
differential rotation is an intrinsic property of electrospheres or more generally speaking
magnetospheres with vacuum gaps (Michel 1979). Differential rotation of plasmas around
neutron stars was expected since the early days of pulsar theory as accounted by the
relativistic hydrodynamical study of Hinata & Jackson (1974) who showed the finite
extension of the corotation part up to a critical magnetic surface. The trapping regions
are defined by the force-free condition E · B = 0 corresponding to an extremum in
the electrostatic potential (maximum for positive charges and minimum for negative
charges). Such sites represent therefore equilibrium places for one species, positive if the
potential is minimal or negative if the potential is maximal. These regions are called
force-free surfaces (FFS) and have been extensively studied by many authors as a base
for the geometry of this electrosphere (Thielheim & Wolfsteller 1989, 1994). Jackson
(1978) emphasized also the notion of corotational drift surface (CDS) in the arbitrary
inclination angle case. Jackson (1976a) extensively studied the electrostatic problem of
neutron star atmospheres in a series of papers (Jackson 1978, 1979, 1980b,a, 1981b,a).
Rylov (1976) computed analytical models of the regions around neutron stars filled with
electrons and protons/positrons. For the aligned case, he found a proton belt and an
electron cap. For a small misalignment he got an electron filament current along the
42 J. Pétri
poles. He already noted the importance of the total electric charge of the star. He refined
his model in several subsequent papers about the electron polar cap shape (Rylov 1977,
1985), electron and particle acceleration (Rylov 1979, 1987b,a) and the influence on pair
creation in the magnetosphere (Rylov 1981, 1982, 1984) and the global structure of the
magnetosphere (Rylov 1988, 1989). According to this literature, the 70s and 80s were
the favourable periods to work on the topic discussed in this section. Or maybe it has to
be traced back to the perspicacity of these authors only.
6.2.1. Charged wind
The improperly called open field lines†, that is those who do not close inside the
light cylinder, let particles escape from the poles. A charged wind made either of
positrons/protons/ions either of electrons, following the sign of the charge, leaves the
magnetosphere from the magnetic poles. The electromagnetic field in the zone of the
charged wind finds its source in the current and the distribution of charges induced by
these escaping particles. This current, responsible for the loss of charges around both
polar caps, should discharge the neutron star. This discharge can not last for ever, so we
must think of either a complete electrostatic equilibrium state or either that the current
loop closes somewhere in the system. In order to circumvent this difficulty, this current
loop should close inside the light cylinder, which is difficult because of the constraint
imposed to the particles to stay on drifting orbits along field lines. This difficulty is
known as the problem of current closure. This is why Beskin et al. (1983, 1993) suggest
the notion of active magnetosphere. A similar argument leading to transfield flows was
suggested by Shibata (1986, 1988).
6.2.2. Active magnetosphere
Given that the current above the poles streams away from the pulsar, a return current
must necessarily exist and be pointed towards the pulsar. The current closure is insured
thanks to the violation of the electric drift approximation close to the light surface because
E > c B. Indeed, when approaching this light surface, the drift velocity becomes equal to
the speed of light, particle energy increases quickly forcing acceleration and consequently
violating the ideal MHD approximation. Electrons and positrons are allowed to cross field
lines along this light surface, electrons going in one direction and positrons in opposite
direction. The current closes through the magnetic surface lying on the frontier of the
dead zone, boundary surface separating open from closed field lines.
6.2.3. Electrostatic equilibrium
The current closure can be avoided if the system evolves towards an electrosphere
in equilibrium with an extension less than the light cylinder radius rL . The distribu-
tion of atmospheric charges would be in an equilibrium state under the action of the
electromagnetic field, equilibrium that can be qualified as electrostatic. In a second
approximation, we can envisage the breakdown of the frozen in theorem through the
development of instabilities allowing the passage of a resistive and turbulent current. The
turbulence is an effect felt by each particle in addition to the macroscopic electric field
responsible for the drift motion such as microscopic electric fluctuations similar to micro-
fields responsible for coulombian collisions, but much more intense. In these conditions
particles can exceptionally deviate from the trajectories indicated by field lines. This
aspect is related to non neutral plasma instabilities developing in the electrosphere. This
suggestion is also an alternative for the current closure problem. Deviation from a pure
† In an electrosphere, no large current is able to truly open field lines because no current
exists.
 43
equilibrium is required to ignite an electromagnetic activity in the pulsar and to hope to
observe emission. Depending on the charge load in this electrosphere, if it almost entirely
fills the light-cylinder, we could speak about a partially filled magnetosphere but with
huge gaps.

6.3. Magnetosphere partially filled

Empty region in the magnetosphere where introduced by Holloway (1973, 1975) to
solve some contradictions appearing in the model of Goldreich & Julian (1969). Indeed,
in the latter, the suppression of equatorial charges can not be compensated by ions
emanating from the star because there exist no mean to accelerate them from the poles
without conveying negative charges at the surface. From this, Holloway (1973) conclude
that the electrosphere should split at the interface between positive and negative space
charges in order to let room for empty regions denoted traditionally by gaps. Moreover,
if an electron-ion or an electron-positron pair migrates to a negatively charged zone,
the positive particle would immediately be attracted by the positive charge region † by
crossing the gap. This motion seems at first sight paradoxical but is the result of the
electromotive field. The system settles down to a new stable equilibrium state after
the perturbation decayed. The same thing would happen if an electron-ion or electron-
positron pair would be located in the positively charged zone. Several theoreticians
have contributed to the study of the properties of this charge separated magnetosphere
including vacuum gaps. But none of these authors have presented a self-consistent
electrostatic model of the charge repartition in the electrosphere apart those resorting to
numerical techniques.

6.4. PIC and fluid simulations

In the middle of the 1980, Krause-Polstorff & Michel (1985b) presented a stationary
solution for the self-consistent electrosphere, stable and finite in extent, avoiding all the
complications caused by the limit of the light cylinder radius and the current closure prob-
lem. More refined calculations have then been presented by Krause-Polstorff & Michel
(1985a). The purely numerical approach employed revealed a structure physically more
realistic than those from Goldreich & Julian (1969) with huge gaps between charge
separated regions of opposite sign. Using a boundary element method described in
Shibata (1989a), Shibata (1989b) confirmed the electrospheric structure followed several
years later by Zachariades (1993).
The basic idea to construct this model was to pull charges out from the surface of
the pulsar to spread them in vacuum following magnetic field lines until reaching an
equilibrium state in which electric field and magnetic field are perpendicular, the force-
free surfaces. To achieve their goal, they used a N-body code method in which charges
were symbolised by rings to account for the symmetry of the configuration, an aligned
rotator. These rings were obliged to follow field lines from which they were emitted
until they immobilize in the potential wells. In estimating the electric field, care must
be taken from the contribution of the star itself, its central point charge (for a dipolar
magnetization), as well as from the rings. As soon as charges were at the right places, in
an equilibrium position, they generate a potential at the surface of the pulsar and a novel
distribution of charges by electrostatic influence. These new charges must also be sent
into the electrosphere until complete exhaustion of charges located at the stellar crust.
Simulations performed for different values of the total charge of the system showed that
† This shows the extreme stability of a non neutral plasma and whose properties are
drastically different from those of a traditional neutral plasma.
44 J. Pétri
stable solutions in electrostatic equilibrium really exist. Unfortunately these simulations
did not gave any clues to the exact structure of the electrosphere. Indeed, the nature of
these simulations did not permit to compute the plasma density nor the precise shape of
the frontier separating electrosphere and vacuum, the discretization of charges leading to
only a crude representation. McDonald & Shearer (2009) took over this technique. They
developed a 3D electromagnetic PIC code in order to construct electrospheres in the
general case of an oblique rotator with better resolution of the plasma configuration and
a larger number of particles (or ring in axisymmetry). Following the same line, starting
from a magnetosphere solution à la force-free of Goldreich-Julian type, Smith et al. (2001)
showed that it is unstable and collapse to an electrosphere. On a more fundamental side,
Zachariades & Jackson (1989); Zachariades (1991) analysed trapped particle trajectories
inside the magnetosphere and wave field. They found bounded orbits outside the light-
cylinder and speculated about radiation from those particles.
Particle techniques are useful but fluid approaches are less noisy and offer a comple-
mentary view. Let us briefly mention some early attempts. Kuo-Petravic et al. (1974)
performed self-consistent relativistic two-fluid simulations of the aligned pulsar mag-
netosphere and found closed field lines even beyond the light-cylinder which seems to
contradict theoretical expectations. It is not clear if this is due to their dissipative
scheme or massive particle effects (Wang 1978) but the distinction between neutral
and charge separated plasma is essential. The only source of charge being the star,
Kuo-Petravic et al. (1975) two-fluid simulations showed closed field lines everywhere
and particle crossing magnetic surface due to strong electric fields induced by charge
separation. The volume and surface charge distribution within the star has been given
by Petravic & Petravic (1976) who also pointed out the importance of the central point
charge. Early numerical techniques are described by Petravić (1976).

6.5. Stability
The electrosphere found in simulations clearly shows a differential rotation of the
equatorial disk. This feature was not observed in force-free simulations. This new degree
of freedom stores kinetic energy that is released via instabilities arising due to the plasma
differential rotation. This rotation can strongly impact on the structure and dynamics of
the magnetosphere. A linear analysis performed by Urpin (2012) revealed growth rates of
the order of the rotation period leading to a plasma diffusion within the magnetosphere
on very short time scales. Non neutral plasma instabilities contribute also strongly
to modify the traditional view of the magnetosphere. The diocotron and magnetron
instabilities allow efficient diffusion of charges through field lines and breaks the frozen
in approximation of the magnetic field. According to the work of Pétri et al. (2002a)
and Pétri et al. (2003); Pétri (2007b) the diocotron instability seems to efficiently diffuse
charges. Its growth rate is comparable to the rotation velocity of the star thus acting on
a very short time scale. Inclusion of relativistic effects as reported by Pétri (2007a) or for
the magnetron instability detailed in Pétri (2008) leave these conclusions unchanged. 2D
electrostatic PIC simulations of Pétri (2009b) have definitively shown the importance of
these effects on pulsar electrodynamics. MHD type instabilities of non-neutral plasmas
can lead to short time variability in the magnetosphere possibly related to radio emission
fluctuations (Urpin 2014). Moreover, the evolution of the non-neutral plasma, especially
in the disk, has to satisfy some conservation laws (Aly 2005) stipulating that an isolated
disk, i.e. without particle injection, will remain confined in the vicinity of the neutron
star.
To conclude the pulsar magnetosphere/electrosphere story, table 6 summarizes the
basic models of a pulsar and table 7 estimates the essential parameters for the character-
 45

Model Reference
Oblique rotator in vacuum Deutsch (1955)
Neutron star Pacini (1967)
Bunch of corotating particles Gold (1968)
Aligned rotator and plasma source Goldreich & Julian (1969)
Aligned rotator and pair creation Sturrock (1970)
Polar cap, cavities, discharge Ruderman & Sutherland (1975)
Outer gaps Cheng et al. (1986a)
Slot gaps Arons (1983)
Trapping of charges Krause-Polstorff & Michel (1985a )
Keplerian disk Michel & Dessler (1981)
Table 6. The essential models describing the magnetosphere activity of a pulsar.

polar wind

e− dome

gaps with pair creation

e± disk in differential rotation

equatorial current
e+ rL

Figure 9. An electrospheric model for pulsars. Adapted from Pétri (2002). The activity of this
dead electrosphere could be revived by an equatorial current transporting charges across field
lines due to non neutral plasma instabilities and a polar wind made of charges of opposite sign
to compensate for the equator loss of charges.

istics quantities of a pulsar magnetosphere. Fig. 9 summarized schematically the revival

of an electrosphere as an active pulsar with leptonic outflows along the rotation axis and
equatorial plane. Early particle simulations of Wada & Shibata (2007) tend to prove the
possibility of formation of such charged winds.
The plasma inside the light-cylinder is at the base of the wind we know describe.

7. Pulsars winds
It is often assumed that pulsars lose their rotational kinetic energy through the
formation of an ultra-relativistic and magnetized wind, made essentially of leptonic e±
pairs, and not just magnetodipole losses in vacuum which would contradict broad band
pulsed emission. This energy, drawn from the rotational kinetics energy of the central star,
is extracted via the Lorentz force exerted at the stellar crust is ∧B dS and carried away
in an electromagnetic wave: the Poynting flux where is is the surface charge current and
dS the surface element. If surface
s charges are present, the electric force also contributes
to the spindown in the form σe [E] dS where σe is the surface electric charge and [E]
the jump in electric field across the same surface. Schematically, from an electrical point
of view, the system generates a potential drop, the magnetized star delivering a potential
difference equal to that between the centre and the rim of a polar cap, electric wires are
replaced by open magnetic field lines and the resistive charge by the nebula acting as
46 J. Pétri

Quantity Estimate Second Millisecond

Mass (M⊙ ) M 1.4 1.4
Radius (km) R 12 12
Moment of inertia (kg m2 ) I = 52 M R2 1.6 × 1038 1.6 × 1038
Period (s) P 1 10−3
Rotation velocity (rad/s) Ω = 2Pπ 6.283 6 283
Braking (s/s) Ṗ 10−15 10−18
−3
Luminosity (W) L = 4qπ 2 I Ṗ P√ 6.3 × 1024 6.3 × 1030
µ0 c 3 I P Ṗ
Magnetic field at surface (T) B = 332 π3 R3
7.4 × 107 7.4 × 104
3 −3
Magnetic field at rL (T) BL = B R 3
rL
1.6 × 10 1.6 × 103
3
Magnetic moment (A m2 ) µ = 4 π BµR0 1.7 × 1027 1.7 × 1024
Electric field (V/m) E = ΩBR 7.5 × 1012 7.5 × 1012
G M me
Gavitational/electric force R2 e E
9.7 × 10−12 9.7 × 10−12
c
Light cylinder radius (km) rL = Ω q 47 700 47.7
R
Polar cap radius (m) Rcp = R rL
190 6 017
Ω B R3
Potential drop across a polar cap (V) ∆φcp = rL
2.2 × 1013 2.2 × 1016
2
Potential drop from pole to equator (V) ∆φ = Ω B R 9.0 × 1016 9.0 × 1016
Particle number density at R (m−3 ) n = 2 ε0 ΩeB 6.9 × 1016 6.9 × 1016
Particle number density at rL (m−3 ) 1.1 × 106 1.1 × 1015
4 π ε0
Particle flux (s−1 ) F= e q
Ω 2 B R3 7.5 × 1029 7.5 × 1032
n e2
Plasma frequency at R (Hz) νp = 2π
1
ε0 me
2.3 × 109 2.3 × 109
Plasma frequency at rL (Hz) 9.4 × 103 2.9 × 108
eB
Cyclotron frequency at R (Hz) νB = 2 π me
2.8 × 1018 2.8 × 1015
Cyclotron frequency at rL (Hz) 4.5 × 107 4.5 × 1013
Characteristic age (years) τ = 2PṖ 1.6 × 107 1.6 × 107
M2
Gravitational potential energy (J) Eg = 53 G R 2,6 · 1046 2,6 · 1046
Rotational kinetic energy (J) Ek = 21 I Ω 2 3,2 · 1039 3,2 · 1045
2 3
Magnetic energy (J) EB = 43π B2 µR0 1,62 · 1034 1,62 · 1028
Thermal energy (J) Eth = 23 N k T 3,4 · 1040 3,4 · 1040
Table 7. The fundamental parameters of a normal and a millisecond pulsar.

a calorimeter. The wind expands from the external parts of the pulsar magnetosphere,
through the vicinity of the light cylinder, up to the neighbouring nebula and feeding it
with freshly made ultra-relativistic particles. Evolving in a magnetic field, theses particles
emit synchrotron and inverse Compton radiation, detectable as for instance in the famous
Crab nebula. † As a general picture, magnetized ultra-relativistic winds are thought to
find their source in a compact object, neutron star or black hole. The flow, dominated
by the Poynting flux, helps in the modelling of some quasars and gamma-ray burst as
well (Blandford 2002).

† See Hester (2008) for a review about the Crab and Kirk et al. (2009) for a summary
about pulsar wind and nebula (PWN) theory. Moreover, the catalog of PWNs can
be found in Roberts, M.S.E., 2004, ‘The Pulsar Wind Nebula Catalog (March 2005
version)’, McGill University, Montréal, Quebec, Canada (available on the World-Wide-Web at
”http://www.physics.mcgill.ca/ pulsar/pwncat.html”).
 47
pulsar+magnetosphere

unshocked wind

termination shock (MHD?)

shocked wind

SNR

ISM

Figure 10. Link between the pulsar and its surrounding nebula. In red, the pulsar and its
magnetosphere, source of e± pairs, in green, the wind in free almost ballistic expansion with a
Lorentz factor Γv , in blue the shocked wind, in grey the supernova remnant and in yellow the
interstellar medium. The termination shock is the boundary between the shocked (green) and
unshocked (blue) wind.

7.1. Introduction
Pulsar radio luminosity only represents a tiny amount of their total energy losses,
of the order of 10−5 Lrot . It is therefore believed that the major part of its rotational
kinetic energy is expelled through a relativistic charged particle outflow: the pulsar wind.
This fact is confirmed by observations showing the interaction between this wind and its
surrounding nebula. In such picture, the luminosity of the Crab nebula is explained by
synchrotron radiation of ultra-relativistic electrons emanating from the central neutron
star.
The problem of pulsar wind theory consists in elaborating a mechanism susceptible to
convert the Poynting flux of the large amplitude low frequency strong electromagnetic
wave into particle kinetic energy, as well as an acceleration process for these latter.
By large amplitude we mean an electron gyro-frequency νB much greater than the wave
frequency ν, in other words νB ≫ ν. For a pulsar, typical parameters are ν ≈ 0,1−720 Hz
and νB & 107 Hz.
The link between the central pulsar, the supernova remnant and the nebula is well
established. Let us recall the bottom line of this model, fig. 7.1. At the source, in the centre
of the nebula the pulsar and its magnetosphere generates ultra-relativistic pairs e± . From
faraway regions of the magnetosphere a cold ultra-relativistic wind forms and flows out
towards the nebula, in a ballistic motion, that is a free expansion up to the termination
shock (this latter being usually modelled in the ideal MHD regime) where particles are
heated after crossing the shock to produce the shocked wind, in blue. This shocked
wind is the main source of radiation observed in radio, optical, X rays and gamma rays.
The nebula is surrounded by the supernova remnant, in grey, itself imprisoned by the
interstellar medium, in yellow. The transition between the unshocked and the shocked
wind goes through the termination shock. The pre and post shock flow properties are
radically different from a thermodynamic but also from a radiative point of view (particle
distribution function, power law index).
48 J. Pétri
7.2. Basic theory
It is good to remind that the exact nature of the pulsar wind remains mysterious, even
basic properties such as its composition (leptonic plus a fraction of baryonic matter?) is
unknown. We quickly come up against conceptual difficulties. However pulsar winds fall
essentially into three kind of descriptions ordered in a decreasing plasma particle density
as follows
• a quasi-neutral wind of relativistic particles, usually described by the relativistic
MHD formalism. This is the usual sense given to the notion of a wind. The electric
current is arbitrary because generated by the relative velocity between different species
of opposite charge. It requires a large particle density number.
• a relativistic charged wind. Here intervenes an additional complication on account
of the charge separation between particles of opposite sign. The electric current is no
more arbitrary but explicitly linked to the velocity of the flow and to the charge density,
it is only a convective current. It implies a low particle density number.
• a large amplitude low frequency electromagnetic wave propagating into a low density
plasma, particles surfing in a way on this wave with negligible back reaction of the plasma
onto this wave. The electric current does not induce perceptible perturbations on this
wave.
It is impossible to state which of this outflow prevails in pulsar wind but it is believed
that the wind cannot switch from one regime to another during its propagation towards
the termination shock. The formation process of this wind in the vicinity of the neutron
star, its propagation as well as its interaction with the nebula are still controversial.
Theoretical investigations on pulsar winds mainly focused on propagation effects, little
being known about its generation and repercussions on the nebula. The formation of the
wind is the worse understood part.

7.3. Magnetohydrodynamic models

The modelling of pulsar winds goes back to the late 60s. Indeed, the first model of
relativistic wind from a compact object was proposed by Michel (1969) as an extension
of the solar wind theory exposed by Dicke (1964), Weber & Davis (1967) and Modisette
(1967). The solar wind is a non relativistic flow described by a fluid dominated by the
pressure and not by the magnetic field. In the relativistic wind model, the magnetic field
is monopolar, field lines are radial and symmetric with respect to the stellar rotation
axis. On the contrary to the solar wind, pressure as well as gravity were ignored. Because
of the pulsar rotation, field lines roll up forming a spiral very similar to Parker spiral
(Parker 1958). This structure will be met later again when explaining the pulsar striped
wind model, fig. 11. Particles, required to move along these lines, are then accelerated by
catapult effect. In all these computations, the dimensionless quantity, sometimes called
magnetization
eΦ e Ω B R2
µ= 2
= (7.1)
me c me c2
introduced by Michel (1969) plays a significant role where Φ is the electric potential drop.
Physically, this parameter can be interpreted as the maximal Lorentz factor reached by
particles when considering that all the Poynting flux goes into kinetic energy for the
particles. From an electrostatic point of view, Φ is the maximum potential drop between
the magnetic poles and the equator for an aligned rotator Φ = Ω B R2 . A probably
less optimistic but better estimate of this electric potential drop is to take it along
the polar cap from the centre to the rim such that Φ = Ω 2 B R3 /c. However, previous
studies have shown that the Lorentz factor related to this flow velocity of the wind is
 49

Figure 11. The Parker spiral structure of the solar wind. Outgoing field lines are shown in red,
ingoing field lines in blue. The two black spirals correspond to places where magnetic polarity
reverses. The same applies for the pulsar striped wind, see below.

regime γ∞
MHD µ1/3
charge-separated µ2/3
space-charge limited µ1/2
Table 8. Asymptotic Lorentz factor reached according to three plasma regimes in the wind.

relatively low, the asymptotic Lorentz factor being only about µ1/3 . In a space-charge
limited flow, acceleration can reach Lorentz factor of the order µ1/2 Michel (1974a).
This upper limit reaches µ2/3 for a charge separated wind (Michel 1984). A summary is
presented in table 8. Test particle acceleration has also been postulated or computed
by several authors. For instance Goldreich & Julian (1969) claimed that the maximal
Lorentz factor looks like γmax ≈ µ1/3 . On the other hand Ostriker & Gunn (1969) gave
γmax ≈ (µ (1 − r0 /r))2/3 . Buckley (1977) claimed a linear acceleration with distance such
that γmax ≈ r. Kennel et al. (1973) found γmax ≈ µ.
Starting from the hypothesis formulated by Michel (1969), Goldreich & Julian (1970)
have added a pressure term as well as the gravitational field of the star. Solving the mass,
energy and momentum conservation equations, they obtained an algebraic system. They
showed that the flow passes through three critical points that are the sonic point where
the velocity of the flow reaches the sound speed, the alfvenic point and the magnetosonic
point. In addition Henriksen & Rayburn (1971) computed the relativistic breeze solution
complementary to Michel (1969). The magnetosonic point must however lie at a finite
distance according to Ardavan (1979).
Rees & Gunn (1974) were the first to look for a modelling of the spatial plasma
distribution in the Crab nebula adopting a purely hydrodynamic point of view and
assuming spherical symmetry. All the energy coming from the pulsar accumulates in
the volume of the nebula which expands at a speed vneb ≪ c. At a distance Rs , the
total pressure in the pnebula compensates the wind dynamical pressure. In a stationary
regime Rs /Rneb ≈ vneb /c, where Rneb is the radius of the spherically symmetric
nebula. Applied to the Crab nebula, the ratio is of the order 7%. In this region a shock
forms to make the transition from the ultra-relativistic wind down to a velocity of the
50 J. Pétri
√
order of c/ 3†. Farther away from Rs , the flow becomes subsonic. The pressure will
approximatively be uniform in the volume comprised between the shock zone and the √
envelope of the nebula, Rs < r < Rneb . The wind passes therefore from a velocity c/ 3
at Rs to a velocity vneb at Rneb . The absence of optical radiation in the centre of the
Crab nebula for r < Rs was identified with the wind zone, rather cold, underluminous
and close to the pulsar.
Starting from the model of Rees & Gunn (1974), Kennel & Coroniti (1984a) studied
the details of the MHD shock of the nebula including the magnetic field dynamics
with application to the Crab (Kennel & Coroniti 1984b). Emmering & Chevalier (1987)
extended the previous solution to a time-dependent moving shock solution. To satisfy
the boundary conditions at the supernova remnant (velocity and pressure), the wind
must terminate by a MHD shock but essentially hydrodynamic in nature, that is a flow
dominated by particle pressure. They adopted a different definition of the magnetization
compared to Michel (1969) and denoted by σ, ratio between the electromagnetic energy
flux and the particle energy flux. Its dynamics is still dominated by the Poynting flux
symbolised by the magnetization parameter
Poynting flux B2 µ
σ= = = (7.2)
particle enthalpy flux µ0 Γv n me c2 Γv
This definition is commonly used nowadays, contrary to that of Michel with the parameter
µ which seems obsolete. Kennel & Coroniti (1984b) reproduced the optical and X-ray
emission of the nebula assuming a cold wind hitting the termination shock with a
Lorentz factor of Γv ≈ 106 . Moreover they showed that the magnetization should be
of the order σ ≈ 10−3 , in other words, the relativistic wind emanating from the pulsar
should be very dense and weakly magnetised. A copious production of e+ e− pairs in
the magnetosphere could explain this high plasma density, solving simultaneously the
shock problem that would only be a Poynting dominated flow. In this model, the wind
magnetic field is assumed to be essentially azimuthal, only the toroidal component Bϕ
remaining non negligible. Moreover, for the aligned rotator, the field keeps an unidirec-
tional structure, that is, field lines cross the equatorial plane always in the same sense.
See also Kundt & Krotscheck (1980) for a refinement of Rees & Gunn (1974) early model
and details about geometrical, spectral and temporal features of the Crab nebula.
Begelman & Li (1994) studied the conversion of Poynting flux into particle kinetic
energy for radial and axisymmetric flow. Under such hypotheses, they showed that
plasma acceleration was extremely inefficient because of magnetic pressure cancellation
by magnetic tension. But if the flow could deviate from this radial motion even slightly,
it would become magnetosonic and induce a significant acceleration. Unfortunately,
the magnetization parameter σ decreases only logarithmically with the radius, which
is not sufficient to explain observations of the Crab nebula. Inefficient acceleration
is counterbalanced by the finite temperature of the wind as shown by Kennel et al.
(1983) but synchrotron emission cools quickly particles. Therefore, there is no simple
and satisfactory explanation to the wind acceleration up to the termination shock.
Chiueh et al. (1998) showed that it is impossible to transfer electromagnetic energy
flux to particles in a relativistic stationary MHD flow. Only a gradual acceleration can
occur and therefore σ remains high before the termination shock which agrees with
Begelman & Li (1994) conclusions. An abrupt acceleration not far from the light cylinder
should happen.

† When crossing the shock, kinetic energy of the wind has been
√ converted into relativistic
random motion and therefore becomes isotropic, thus the factor 3.
 51
To summarize so far pulsar wind theory, a cold MHD flow in stationary regime evolving
in a monopole magnetic field is always dominated by the Poynting flux if particles are
injected with σ ≫ 1, the flow reaching the magneto-sonic point asymptotically. However
independent estimates from the Crab nebula furnish value of the flow parameter less
than 1, σ ≪ 1, a required condition for sufficient confinement pressure for keeping
particles inside the supernova remnant. Numerous questions remain unsettled, as for
instance the precise description of the shock, the formation of a dense wind close to the
pulsar surface, the nature of the large amplitude electromagnetic wave, wave in vacuum
or plasma wave, the current circulation and related MHD/kinetic instabilities.
The above models are drastic simplifications of a real system because they assumed
stationarity, no explicit time dependence is included. Indeed, the firsts models have
been presented by Rees & Gunn (1974) for the Crab nebula interpreted as synchrotron
emission from the relativistic shocked wind in spherical geometry and more detailed by
Kennel & Coroniti (1984a,b) where they introduced a thorough study of the relativistic
MHD shock. The formulation relies on three hypotheses that are
• a Larmor radius smaller than the size of the nebula.
• negligible radiative losses, i.e. a cooling time much longer than the age of the nebula.
• a plasma made almost exclusively of e± pairs with little ions and/or heavy elements.
There is therefore no time and length scales characteristics that differ because of the mass
ratio.
But a pulsar and its wind are far from being stationary. The magnetic moment inclined
with respect to the rotation axis generates a variable electromagnetic field that at the
light cylinder gives rise to a large amplitude low frequency electromagnetic wave damped
by its interaction with the surrounding plasma causing its dissipation.
Coroniti (1990) was the first to recognize the importance of the time dependence of
the wind structure on the energy transport mechanism. He noted that for an oblique
rotator, the azimuthal component of the magnetic field in the wind change polarity
alternatively in the vicinity of the rotational equatorial plan †, the flux being equal in
the two alternations. The wind, qualified as a striped wind, develops into a structure made
of stripes that are alternating polarity from positive to negative and vice-versa, separated
by a neutral surface onto which the field vanishes: the current sheet. He demonstrated
that magnetic field line annihilation of opposite polarity can lead from an initial highly
magnetized configuration, a flow dominated by the propagation of electromagnetic waves
at σ ≫ 1, to a weakly magnetized wind, dominated by particle kinetic energy at σ ≪ 1.
This annihilation is also refereed to magnetic reconnection in the striped wind.
Michel (1994) interpreted this magnetic reconnection merely in terms of inductive
heating because of the plasma short-circuit necessary to maintain the current. The
density of particles responsible for this electric current maintaining the striped structure
decreases radially faster, like n ∝ 1/r2 , than the amplitude of the magnetic field, like
B ∝ 1/r. However Maxwell-Ampère equation imposes a radial decrease identical for
both the density n and magnetic field B leading to the contradiction. The difficulty is
circumvented by draining the reservoir of cold and magnetized particles making them
join those that are hot and weakly magnetized. This source shrinks until exhaustion and
dissipation of the field itself. More clearly, particles start lacking to maintain the current
and to insure the existence of the stripes that have no other choice than to dissipate.
This problem between the charge density and the current density was already noted by
Usov (1975).

† The rotational equatorial plan is the plan perpendicular to the pulsar rotation axis and
passing through its centre.
52 J. Pétri
The striped wind shows the peculiarity of alternating polarity in the magnetic field in
the equatorial plane. An oscillating current sheet emerges out of this system and separates
equatorial stripes (Bogovalov 1999). The striped wind is considered as an entropic wave
that is a wave moving with the bulk flow without entropy exchange between different
parts of the fluid. Note that energy is mainly evacuated in the equatorial region. The
dynamics of the striped wind is much more rich than that of a simple spherically sym-
metric radial wind. Indeed, Lyubarsky & Kirk (2001) have shown that the thin current
sheet represents a favourable site for magnetic field annihilation in the stripes. Magnetic
energy is therefore transferred to particles via reconnection. But acceleration induced
by this reconnection slows down the dissipation rate estimated by a distant observer
because of time dilation, rendering this mechanism inefficient to completely dissipate
the magnetic field before entering the termination shock. The√Lorentz factor increases
faster than logarithmically but not sufficiently, only as Γv ∝ r. The conversion could
however be possible in favourable conditions with a higher than expected density of pairs
through cascading (Kirk & Skjæraasen 2003). This result contradicts the general believe
stipulating a domination of particles over the electromagnetic field before passage through
the termination shock. Indeed, a too high magnetization at the shock would drastically
increase the post-shock pressure with as a consequence an important deformation of the
nebula, which is not observed. The other hypothesis meets some difficulties to explain the
radio spectrum. An alternative solution consists in dissipating the magnetic field within
the termination shock (Lyubarsky 2005; Pétri & Lyubarsky 2007; Sironi & Spitkovsky
2011), and would solve the problem of a flow dominated by the Poynting flux and
avoid that of the radio spectrum (Lyubarsky 2003b). Alternatively, wave dissipation
in the striped wind has been studied by Lyubarsky (2003a) who showed the decay
of fast magnetosonic waves in such winds through non-linear steepening and multiple
shock formation. Superluminal waves offer another interesting point of view to dissipate
efficiently electromagnetic energy at the termination shock (Arka & Kirk 2012).
In all these scenarios, whatever the situation considered, after dissipation, the alter-
nating component of the magnetic field disappears and only the DC component subsists,
obtained by averaging of the magnetic field on a wavelength of the wind. In the equatorial
plane, this mean value is strictly null. However, in polar regions, the same magnetic
field do not change polarity, there are no stripes to annihilate. Energy is transported
via magneto-sonic waves or Alfven waves. In the asymptotic region, field lines tend to
the split monopole (Ingraham 1973; Michel 1974b). Buckley (1977) showed that any
solution possesses a neutral current sheet, that the asymptotic solution resembles to a
wave in vacuum and that the particle Lorentz factor increases approximatively linearly
with the distance. The flow remains essentially radial after crossing the magneto-sonic
point because the collimation becomes inefficient (Beskin et al. 1998; Chiueh et al. 1998;
Tomimatsu 1994). We know since the works of Asseo et al. (1978) that low frequency
waves generated by the pulsar rotation are heavily damped due to the presence of a
dense plasma.
The MHD model alone, as we see, cannot explain individual acceleration of particles
to power law distributions but rather as simple Maxwellian in an hypothetical thermal
equilibrium state. Although the wind properties are not directly accessible to observa-
tions, an indirect deduction of the magnetization, of the angular distribution of energy
and of the dissipation in the equatorial plane can be gained from numerical simulations.

7.4. Axisymmetric magnetohydrodynamical simulations

With the advent of relativistic numerical codes noteworthy progresses have been made
in the comprehension of the geometry of pulsar wind nebulae. For instance, relativis-
 53
tic magnetohydrodynamic simulations (RMHD) performed by Komissarov & Lyubarsky
(2004) have shown that the jet+torus structure, well resolved in the Crab nebula, can be
explained by a relativistic wind possessing a weak magnetization at the equator σ ≪ 1
but an important Poynting flux. The transition to the nebula goes through an anisotropic
termination shock braking the wind to a speed velocity about c/2. Jets are formed after
this shock by magnetic confinement. Moreover, synchrotron emission resulting from such
a configuration reproduces faithfully X ray observations of the Crab nebula. The rings
are easily identifiable with the symmetrical jets seeming to escape from the pulsar.
Since their work, numerous other simulations have reproduced similar results, see for
instance Del Zanna et al. (2004), Del Zanna et al. (2006), Bucciantini et al. (2006) and
Volpi et al. (2008).
The crucial point in these relativistic MHD simulations is the presence of an anisotropy
in the Poynting flux given by a prescription in luminosity according to the formal latitude
dependence (Lyubarsky 2002)
 
F0 1 2
F (ϑ) = 2 + α sin ϑ (7.3)
r σ
where F0 and σ1 are two constant parameters. The first term accounts for particle
energy and the second for the Poynting flux reminiscent of the striped wind. The weak
magnetization in the equator is accounted by magnetic dissipation in the stripes. It seems
to be the most accomplished model to explain the jet+torus structure of nebulas. The
plasma flow is facilitated in the equatorial plane with a magnetic compression along
the axis thus forming the jet. The formation of this jet depends on the magnetization
upstream the wind. For a weak value of σ, let us say σ < 10−3 , there is no jet but
for σ ≈ 0.1 a jet appears with an ejection velocity of about 0.7 c. Stripes add to the
complexity of the flow in the nebula because they can dissipate and lower the equatorial
magnetization. This is necessary to explain the inner ring and the external torus. Should
the opposite occur, a constant magnetization would be impossible. The intensity of the
magnetic field increases by MHD compression of the wind in the shock (Piddington 1969;
Pacini & Salvati 1973; Rees & Gunn 1974). Two-dimensional axisymmetric RMHD of
Komissarov & Lyubarsky (2004) have confirmed the veracity of these hypotheses. Their
conclusions are the following
• at high latitude, the magnetic field is still significant, inducing a jet collimation.
• the termination shock is closer to the neutron star at the poles than at the equator.
The a posteriori treatment of simulation data to extract synchrotron intensity maps
should convince the most sceptical.
To conclude about simulation, Porth et al. (2014) reported on the first full three-
dimensional relativistic MHD simulations of a pulsar wind nebula. They showed that
observations can be reconciled with theory even with magnetization as high as σ = 3
thanks to a kink instability occurring in the polar regions, as already mentioned by
Begelman (1998).

7.5. Wind observability

The striped wind being a cold flow, at first sight it seems difficult to observe it even
indirectly. However, some regions in the wind are detectable whereas other should remain
invisible for observers on Earth. On one hand, the unshocked part of the wind, essentially
cold but made of a thin hot stripe (usually also assimilated to the current sheet), generates
high and very high energy photons through essentially two main channels, namely
(i) inverse Compton emission on target photons emanating from
• the cosmic microwave background.
54 J. Pétri
• synchrotron photons (then called synchrotron self-Compton emission).
• thermal photons from the stellar surface (heated to X rays thus energies about
100 eV) (Bogovalov & Aharonian 2000).
• optical/UV photons (typical energies about several eV) from the companion in
a binary system (Ball & Kirk 2000).
• infra-red dust.
• the surrounding nebula.
(ii) synchrotron emission in the dense and hot stripes and incidentally in the cold and
magnetized part with prediction of the associated polarisation.
Pulses are observable from optical up to MeV/GeV outside the magnetosphere but close
to the light cylinder where emissivity is the highest. The pulsation observability condition
is constrained by relativistic beaming, retardation and geometrical effects. If emission
occurs at a radius r and within a range ∆r then according to Kirk et al. (2002) and
Pétri (2009a, 2011) pulses are restricted to regions where
{r, ∆r} . Γv2 rL . (7.4)
On the other hand, the shocked part of the wind does not contain any stripes, they
have been destroyed during the passage through the termination shock. In some special
regimes of the plasma flow, stripes could survive as explained by Pétri & Lyubarsky
(2007). The magnetic field leaves room for very hot particles scattering photons up to TeV
energies. There are nor pulses at these extreme energies but orbital phase modulation is
expected, see for instance the case of PSR B1259-63 studied by Kirk et al. (1999) and
Pétri & Dubus (2011).
Because radio emission must propagate through the wind to reach the observer at
Earth, the wind needs to be transparent vis-à-vis of inverse Compton scattering of radio
photons. From this condition Wilson & Rees (1978) deduced a minimum Lorentz factor
of Γv >104 for the Crab at a distance of 100 rL of the pulsar. Sincell & Krolik (1992)
included ambient magnetic field effects altering the spectra and radio polarisation.
We therefore conclude that the essentially cold wind is observable at least partly thanks
to synchrotron and inverse Compton emission from the shocked and/or unshocked wind.
The luminosity is indeed sufficient to be detectable on Earth. Moreover spectral and
pulsation features differ from those of the nebula, the two components are therefore
distinguishable.

8. The striped wind

In this paragraph, we discuss the possible observational signatures of the striped wind
on the properties of high energy emission induced by synchrotron and/or inverse Compton
radiation of the current sheet containing ultra-relativistic electron-positron pairs. We
focus more specifically on the pulsed component of this emission, beyond the optical
domain, that is Eγ & 1 eV†. The striped wind being too rarely described in details in the
literature, an effort is done to give a precise and coherent description. Many of the striped
wind emission features are based on the three dimensional geometry of the underlying
magnetic field. It imprints on the light-curve intensity as well as on polarisation. A more
detailed model about kinetic aspects of the sheet interior would allow a survey of physical
conditions within it but the large span in time and spatial scales of many decades forbids
a self-consistent treatment of global scales including microphysics.
† In this discussion we consider optical emission as belonging to the high energy domain by
comparison with radio pulses.
 55
Pulsar nebulas are the natural results of the shocked plasma injected by the pulsar
wind. This wind although highly magnetized is assumed to be cold, relatively homoge-
neous and does not radiate synchrotron photons, at most high energy inverse Compton
photons from scattering an exterior target field. This explains the lack of observation
between the position of the neutron star and the inner parts of the nebula. Can we
however hope to observe this wind even indirectly? We tempt to answer this question in
the following lines.

8.1. Structure of the striped wind

A quantitatively accurate description of the striped wind is still not accessible. The
main problems arise because of the very different time and length scales coming into
play. On one hand, the global structure at large scales is dominated by the MHD regime
and on the other hand the kinetic structure of the current sheet dominates at very small
scales, both being difficult to reconcile from the point of view of numerical simulations.
The Larmor radius is many orders of magnitude smaller than the wind wavelength.
Radiation should also strongly influence the equilibrium configuration. Strong disparities
in the time scale characteristics appears for instance in the three important frequencies
namely the cyclotron frequency, the plasma frequency and the rotation frequency. See
table 7 for a summary of important pulsar parameters.
Nevertheless, the magnetic field geometry at large distances in the MHD approximation
is satisfactorily described by a split monopole. The use of such a structure avoids a
detailed description of the closed pulsar magnetosphere. Indeed, the plasma configuration
in the immediate surrounding of the neutron star, that is for distances less than the
light cylinder radius remains largely unknown and ill understood. We only guess that
a transition of the magnetic topology must occur approximatively at the light cylinder,
switching from a confined corotating (or maybe differentially rotating) plasma to an open
topology sustained by a wind of charged particles, the pulsar wind. Despite this large
uncertainty, it is possible to get a simple analytical solution for the wind, independent
of the precise knowledge of this magnetosphere. It is called the split monopole of which
we recall some essential features.

8.2. The split monopole

Exact analytical solutions of the electromagnetic field around pulsars are sufficiently
rare to be of interest from a purely physical point of view, even if assuming a monopolar
magnetic structure is unrealistic. The split monopole model belongs to such rare solutions
and has been introduced by Michel (1973b). He started from the assumption that all the
magnetic field lines at the surface of the star are radial and given by a monopole structure
such that
r2
B = BL L2 er (8.1)
r
where BL is the magnetic field intensity at the light-cylinder. He found an exact analytical
solution of the pulsar equation (3.11), whose solution can be summarized in the formula
below for the magnetic field
rL  rL 
B = BL er + sin ϑ eϕ . (8.2)
r r
The radial Br and toroidal Bϕ components have same intensity at the light cylinder
radius in the equatorial plane. The electric field possesses only a latitudinal component
and is fully given by the expression Eϑ = c Bϕ . Particles undergo an electric drift motion
combined with a movement along field lines such that the resulting velocity causes an
56 J. Pétri
ultra-relativistic outgoing flow (actually equal to the speed of light) with a purely radial
component of the fluid such that
V = c er . (8.3)
The radial component of the Poynting vector is easily derived to be
Ω 2 B 2 R4 sin2 ϑ
Sr = . (8.4)
µ0 c r 2
We recognize the sin2 ϑ dependence used in the RMHD simulations of section 5. The
Poynting vector in eq. (8.4) leads to a total spindown luminosity of
8π
L= Ω 2 B 2 R4 (8.5)
3 µ0 c
and therefore a braking index equal to one, n = 1. Thus to summarize, for a monopole
we get n = 1 and for a dipole n = 3. In the most general case of a multipole of order ℓ
we can estimate the Poynting flux by very general arguments in the following way.
Roughly speaking, energy is taken away by the electromagnetic wave starting at the
light-cylinder rL that is in the wave zone. The total energy flux across the sphere of
radius rL is 4 π BL2 rL2 c/µ0 . For the multipole ℓ the strength at the light-cylinder BL
is connected to the strength at the surface B by BL = B (R/rL )ℓ+2 . Plugging into
the energy flux we get 4 π c B 2 R2 ℓ+4 rL−2 ℓ−2 /µ0 . Thus the Poynting flux is roughly
L ≈ 4 π B 2 R2 ℓ+4 Ω 2 ℓ+2 /µ0 c2 ℓ+1 . We deduce the braking index to be n = 2 ℓ + 1 as
noted by Krolik (1991). This estimate is valid irrespective of the vacuum or plasma
assumption around the neutron star. A wind in the dipolar magnetosphere implies a
braking index of n = 3 in vacuum, in FFE and in general relatively (Pétri 2016a).
Most of the Poynting flux goes away along the equatorial plane with S r (ϑ) ∝ sin2 ϑ
explaining the setup for the RMHD simulations. The total magnetic flux through a
sphere centred on the neutron star is not zero. For finding a situation that meets the
overall constraint of lack of magnetic monopole, the game is to reverse the direction of the
magnetic field lines when changing hemisphere. Suppose that in the northern hemisphere,
field lines come out of the star. Conversely, in the southern hemisphere, field lines return
to the star. By the symmetry of the problem, the total magnetic flux through a sphere
centred on the star now vanish. Moreover, this magnetic topology is an exact solution
of the pulsar equation with a significant peculiarity. Indeed, the junction between both
magnetic monopoles of opposite magnetic charge induces a discontinuity in the equatorial
plane because its polarity changes sign. In order to satisfy Maxwell-Ampère equation, this
discontinuity must be maintained by a surface current density (the current sheet). For an
aligned rotator, this surface coincides with the rotational equatorial plane of the neutron
star, fig. 12. A split monopole is constituted of two magnetic monopoles with equal but
opposite magnetic charge between the northern and southern hemisphere. What about
an oblique rotator?

8.3. Asymptotic MHD solution

Near the neutron star, the split monopole approximation is certainly not verified or
even justified. However, outside the light cylinder, the geometry of the pulsar wind can
be assimilated to a split monopole. Indeed, to lowest order in 1/r, only the dipole field
survives as the dominant component, and combined with a radial ideal MHD flow, field
lines are stretched to eventually open and resemble to a split monopole.
Remember the configuration of the system. The strongly magnetized neutron star
rotates along the (Oz) axis and possesses a magnetic field assumed perfectly dipolar
 57
20

15

10 Χ
5 Ζ
0

z
-5

-10

-15

-30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40

r

Figure 12. Topology of the infinitely thin current sheet located in the equatorial plane. In the
north hemisphere, field lines are going out from the surface, red solid lines, whereas in the south
hemisphere, they go into the star, blue solid lines. The observer line of sight is shown by a green
arrow.

at its surface. The expulsion of the plasma beyond the light cylinder deforms the field
lines to the point that they will open, giving rise to a situation approaching the split
monopole at large distances. For an oblique rotator, making an angle χ between the
magnetic moment µ and the rotation axis Ω = Ω ez , we have Ω cos χ = Ω · µ , the
surface discontinuity oscillates and propagates at the wind velocity V in the ideal MHD
approximation. The flow is only in the radial direction. This surface discontinuity is
determined by finding the geometric place where the magnetic field changes sign on the
stellar crust. Recall that the magnetic moment in spherical coordinates is
µ = µ [sin χ (cos(Ω t) ex + sin(Ω t) ey ) + cos χ ez ] . (8.6)
Let n be a unit vector pointing to the magnetic equator and having components
n = sin ϑ (cos ϕ ex + sin ϕ ey ) + cos ϑ ez . (8.7)
The magnetic equator is defined by µ · n = 0. The surface where the magnetic field
changes polarity is therefore defined by
Ψs (t, r, ϑ, ϕ) ≡ cos ϑ cos χ + sin ϑ sin χ cos (ϕ − Ω t) = 0 . (8.8)
This curve traced on the stellar surface is at the origin of the current sheet. Given that
the plasma flow is radial and expands at a constant velocity V , we replace the time
dependence t by a radial propagation term of the form t − r/V to take into account this
propagation effect. The current sheet will therefore be the geometric surface defined in
three-dimensional space by
h  r i
Ψs (t, r, ϑ, ϕ) ≡ cos ϑ cos χ + sin ϑ sin χ cos ϕ − Ω t − =0. (8.9)
V
The equation of the surface, solved for the radial variable r is
 
ct
rs (t, ϑ, ϕ) = βv rL ± arccos(− cot ϑ cot χ) + −ϕ+2ℓπ (8.10)
rL
where βv = V /c and ℓ is an integer. It is the solution found by Bogovalov (1999). The
three dimensional geometry and a cross section of the current sheet are shown in fig. 13.
The striped wind is therefore a spiral structure rotating at the velocity of the star and
moving radially at a speed close to that of light. The current sheet is infinitely thin. In
the equatorial plane (ϑ = π/2) the polar equation of the two-armed spiral is
π
r = β rL (Ω t − ϕ + + ℓ π). (8.11)
2
In reality, the striped wind possesses a certain thickness and an internal intrinsic dynamics
58 J. Pétri

20

15

10 Χ W
5 Ζ
0
z

-5

-10

-15

-30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40

r

Figure 13. Topology of the infinitely thin current sheet induced by the striped wind from the
split monopole. In the north hemisphere, field lines are going out from the surface, red solid
lines, whereas in the south hemisphere, they go into the star, blue solid lines. The discontinuity,
or magnetic polarity reversal is depicted by this current sheet wobbling around the equatorial
plane, right picture.

but not described by this simple MHD approach. For more realistic models that we
will consider, the wind is made of two plasma components, a strongly magnetised cold
component outside the current layer and a weakly magnetized hot component inside
the layer. The relativistic motion associated with the spiral structure is at the origin of
the pulsed emission we now detail. Tchekhovskoy et al. (2016) found useful approximate
analytical expressions for the current in the general oblique case by fitting full 3D force-
free and MHD simulations.

8.4. Origin of pulsed emission

In the striped wind scenario, the dissipation of magnetic energy happens mainly in
the current sheet. Charged particles are heated to relativistic temperatures and radiate
synchrotron and inverse Compton emission. If moreover these particles travel at a
distance r from the centre of the star such that r . Γv2 rL , the radiation is modulated at
the rotation frequency of the neutron star. Explaining pulsation by such a mechanism was
already suggested at the beginning era of pulsar theory as proposed by Michel (1971)
and Arons (1979). These ideas have been reinvestigated more recently by Kirk et al.
(2002). These studies showed that the striped wind is a possible site for generation of
incoherent high energy radiation, going from optical up to gamma rays. A priori, there
is no reason to favour one emission site more than another, let it be outer gap, slot gap,
polar cap or wind. However, compared to other models, the striped wind does not require
knowledge about the inner magnetosphere and furnishes an analytical description of the
magnetic field structure only based on fundamental geometrical hypotheses. This permits
to circumvent the problems linked to arbitrariness of the magnetosphere.
As announced earlier, pulsed emission is a direct consequence of the beaming induced
by the relativistic flow. To better understand this phenomenon, let us assume for the sake
of simplicity that the wind consists of thin, concentric spherical layers of hot radiating
plasma. In the equatorial plane, successive sheets, marked by n and n + 1, are separated
by half a wind wavelength, ∆l = λL /2 where λL = 2 π β rL is the wind wavelength,
fig. 14. Moreover, assume that these sheets only radiate when crossing an imaginary
sphere of radius Rsph , blue arc. The maximal time of arrival delay for photons emitted
 59
2/Γv

2/Γv
ϑ ≈ 1/Γv

pulsar

Γv to observer
2/Γv
shell n + 1

shell n

Figure 14. Principle of pulsed emission. The spherical shells propagate radially outwards with
a Lorentz factor Γv and emit in a cone of half opening angle 1/Γv when crossing the sphere of
radius Rsph , blue arc.

by the sheet labelled n for a distant observer is ∆t = ∆R/c = (1 − cos ϑ) Rsph /c. For an
ultra-relativistic flow we simplify noting that ϑ ≈ 1/Γv ≪ 1. Consequently the arrival
time delay is
Rsph
∆t ≈ (8.12)
2 Γv2 c
a well known result from gamma-ray burst theory. To observe pulses, the delay must be
inferior to the time interval elapsed between the issuance of two consecutive layers n and
n + 1 crossing Rsph and given by ∆T = ∆l/c = π rL /c. This results in a pulsed emission
if (Arons 1979)

Rsph . 2 π Γv2 rL ≈ Γv2 λL . (8.13)

Actually this estimate is based on perfectly concentric spherical shells. In a more realistic
model, care should be taken from the truly spiral structure of the wind. Thus to refine
our argument, let us look at fig. 15. As before the current sheet emits photons when the
spiral structure crosses the sphere of radius Rsph depicted as a solid black arc. The whole
structure rotates rigidly in the direction indicated by the red arrow. The two magenta
lines correspond two the region of the wind seen by the distant observer. One spiral
arm crosses this sphere in the following order: beginning in red then middle in green and
finally ending in blue as marked in fig. 15. The related position in polar coordinates in the
plane of the figure are noted (Rsph , −ϕrim ), (Rsph , 0) and (Rsph , ϕrim ) and are measured
at times respectively t− , t0 and t+ meanwhile emitting photons γ− , γ0 and γ+ . From the
spiral structure eq. (8.11) these times are related by

Ω t− + ϕrim = Ω t0 = Ω t+ − ϕrim (8.14)

which leads to the ordering t− < t0 < t+ . For our purpose, in the case of a relativistic
radial flow we set ϕrim ≈ 1/Γv . Taking into account time of flight of photons from the
60 J. Pétri
t+
γ+

emitting shell at Rsph

ϕrim
Ω
γ0
t0
to observer

t−
γ−

Figure 15. Real shape of the current sheet not approximated by concentric spherical shells
but using the true expression in the equatorial plane. Rotation is counter-clockwise. It shows
the three important phases of a pulse: begin in red, middle in green and end in blue. Photons
are emitted during the whole interval t ∈ [t− , t+ ] not to be confused with the reception times
trec ∈ [trec rec
− , t+ ], see text.

emission site to the observer we get the reception times as

D − Rsph cos ϕrim
trec
− = t− + (8.15a)
c
D − Rsph
trec
0 = t0 + (8.15b)
c
D − Rsph cos ϕrim
trec
+ = t+ + . (8.15c)
c
Assuming the ordering as trec rec rec
− < t0 < t+ , which must be checked a posteriori, the time
observed for a pulse is of the order
2 ϕrim 2
∆trec rec rec
+− = t+ − t− = = (8.16)
Ω Γv Ω
from which we deduce the duty cycle for one pulse as
∆trec ϕrim 1
= = ≪1. (8.17)
P π Γv π
From this inequality (which holds only for Γv ≫ 1) we conclude that pulsation should
happen at any place in the striped wind. There should be no restriction such as eq. (8.13)
where a concentric geometry was assumed. This conclusion is however incorrect. The
photon γ0 does not always succeed the photon γ− because
 
1 Rsph
∆trec
0− = t rec
0 − t rec
− = rL − (8.18)
Γv c 2 Γv
It will be the case only if trec
− < t0
rec
which implies Rsph < 2 Γv rL . In that case, the
order is preserved otherwise the photon γ0 will be received before γ− even if it has
been produced after the latter. The explanation lies in the additional time required by
γ− to reach the observer. According to geometrical considerations, the second condition
trec rec
0 < t+ is always satisfied independently of the distance Rsph . To observe pulsation,
we require also |∆trec
0− | < P and this gives for Γv ≫ 1 a condition similar to eq. (8.13) in
the form Rsph . 4 π Γv2 rL .
In general, the striped wind model predicts two pulses per period, as observed in
most light curves of gamma ray pulsars, see for instance the first and second gamma-
 61
ray pulsar catalogues described in depth in Abdo et al. (2009a, 2013). The separation
between these pulses is only function of the obliquity χ and the inclination of the line
referred as ζ. Indeed from geometric considerations about the current sheet, we derived
a simple analytical relation between inclination of the line of sight ζ, obliquity of the
pulsar χ and the separation between the two pulses ∆ given by (Kirk 2005; Pétri 2011)
| cot ζ cot χ| = cos(∆ π) . (8.19)
For pulsars observed by Fermi/LAT, the value of ∆ is easily accessible. We deduce a
simple relation between the two widths defining the fundamental geometry of the pulsar.
Moreover with a model for radio emission, we can estimate the delay between arrival
time of radio and gamma ray photons. This has been analysed in details in Pétri (2011).
Moreover for an infinitely thin sheet, the width of the pulses is inversely proportional to
the Lorentz factor Γv of the flow. Related to one period 2 π, this width is approximatively
∆ ≈ 1/π Γv from eq. (8.17). We check this with some examples of pulsed emission. More
generally, when the wind is not purely in radial expansion, the criterion for existence of
pulsation changes. Consider again two spherical layers separated by half a wavelength.
Suppose that the plasma expansion velocity makes an angle α with respect to the radial
direction. The path difference between the pulse emitted in the middle and that emitted
at the edge of the sheet is
 
1 1
∆l = Rsph 1 − cos cos α + sin α sin (8.20)
Γv Γv
For high Lorentz factors it simplifies into
 
1 1
∆l ≈ Rsph cos α + sin α (8.21)
2 Γv2 Γv
Emission will be pulsed if the difference of arrival time between the two pulses ∆l/c is
less than half a period of the pulsar thus
2 π Γv2 rL
Rsph < (8.22)
cos α + 2 Γv sin α
Two limiting cases are worthwhile
a) for a strictly radial velocity with α = 0 we find again Rsph < 2 π Γv2 rL .
b) for a strictly azimuthal velocity with α = π/2 we have Rsph < π Γv rL .
Criterion b) is much more constraining than a) because it is proportional to the first
power of Γv only and not to its second power Γv2 . The angles α and 1/Γv have to be
compared to check which pulse arrives first, the middle one or the edge one: the middle
pulse wins if α < 1/Γv .
Where do we expect to produce emission? In a realistic model the current sheet
possesses a finite thickness and therefore a balance between thermal and magnetic
pressure in the stripes should happen. To simplify, in the two distinct regions we have
(i) in the current sheet: zero magnetic field B = 0, constant pressure p and high
particle density number n thus a hot unmagnetized plasma.
(ii) between the current sheet: constant magnetic field, zero pressure, low particle
density number thus a cold magnetized plasma.
This entropy wave must be in a MHD equilibrium in the wind rest frame such that
B2 constant across the wind
+p= (8.23)
2 µ0 r2
The constant has to be determined on other physical grounds.
62 J. Pétri
8.5. Emission from an infinitely thin sheet
In the precedent paragraph, we explained the origin of pulses, provided that the emit-
ting layer lies sufficiently close to the light-cylinder. We now study more quantitatively
this pulsed emission. The mechanisms giving rise to high energy emission are diverse. We
distinguish mainly between
• synchrotron emission of ultra-relativistic hot electrons/positrons pairs in the strong
magnetic field of the wind.
• inverse Compton emission of internal or external photons, for instance those coming
from a companion, the surrounding nebula, thermal photons of the surface or synchrotron
photons themselves.
The intensity of emission for the synchrotron and inverse Compton radiation is propor-
tional to the following space-time integral
Z +∞ Z +∞ Z π/2+χ Z 2π
Iν (t) = jν (r, t′ ) δ(r − rs (ϑ, ϕ, t′ ))×
−∞ R0 π/2−χ 0
 
′ ||Robs − r||
× δ t − (t − ) r2 sin ϑ dt′ dr dϑ dϕ .
c
Integration must be performed on the current sheet making sure to include the retarda-
tion effects due to propagation at finite speed of the photons. The observer is located
at the point Robs where the unit vector is nobs = Robs /Robs . Emission starts at an
arbitrary radius R0 . Γv2 rL and t′ = t−r·nobs /c corresponds to retarded time associated
to emission at point r in the sheet. The Dirac distributions insure emission only when
being on the current sheet, thus the δ(r − rs (ϑ, ϕ, t′ )) term, and when observation time
′
is related to retarded
 time of emission t of a photon emanating from the point r of the
||R −r||
sheet, thus the δ t′ − (t − obsc ) term.
Synchrotron and inverse Compton emissivities, far from the low and high frequency
cut off, are given respectively by
jνsync (r, t) = Ke (r, t) ν −(p−1)/2 D(p+3)/2 B (p+1)/2 (8.24a)
jνIC (r, t) = Ke (r, t) ν −(p−1)/2
D p+2
nγ (ε) (8.24b)
Relativistic beaming effects are symbolised by the usual Doppler factor
1
D= . (8.25)
Γv (1 − βv · nobs )
The power law dependence on D is different for jνsync and jνIC , thus affecting the
pulse shape depending on the distribution of particles but also following the emission
process considered. The light curves exhibit peaks that are more or less pronounced. For
pedagogical purposes, we show a sample of light curves for a prescribed volume emissivity.
The impact of different Lorentz factors and spectral indices are shown in fig. 16 for
synchrotron emission and in fig. 17 for inverse Compton emission. Synchrotron profiles
differ from inverse Compton profiles but the general trend is the same: a decrease in the
full width half maximum when the power law index increase and/or when the Lorentz
factor is augmented.
Knowing the shape of pulses for a given frequency, now we are interested in the
spectral power density from this radiation. We have seen that pulsed emission comes from
relativistic Doppler beaming. The exact function of this dependence in the Doppler factor
is determined by the same power law spectral density. It is therefore essential to know
this spectral power density for estimating the shape of the pulses at a given frequency.
 63

1 1

0.8 0.8
Γv = 2
p=1
intensity

intensity
Γv = 5
0.6 p=2 0.6
Γv = 10
p=3
Γv = 20
0.4 p=4 0.4 Γv = 50

0.2 0.2

0 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
phase phase

Figure 16. Sample of synchrotron emission light curves for different power law indices
p = {1, 2, 3, 4} with Γv = 10 on the left and for different Lorentz factors Γv = {2, 5, 10, 20, 50}
with p = 2 on the right. Intensities are normalized to Imax = 1.

1 1

0.8 0.8
Γv = 2
p=1
intensity

intensity

Γv = 5
0.6 p=2 0.6
Γv = 10
p=3
Γv = 20
0.4 p=4 0.4 Γv = 50

0.2 0.2

0 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
phase phase

Figure 17. Sample of inverse Compton emission light curves for different power law indices
p = {1, 2, 3, 4} with Γv = 10 on the left and for different Lorentz factors Γv = {2, 5, 10, 20, 50}
with p = 2 on the right. Intensities are normalized to Imax = 1.

We study the synchrotron and inverse Compton emission. Emissivity is chosen so as to

include the power law dependence of the frequency of observation considered. The shape
of the pulses depend not only on the Lorentz factor of the wind and the emission process
itself, IC or synchrotron, but also on the observation frequency before the low cut off,
between the two cut off frequencies and after the high frequency cut off. Light curves are
shown in the case of inverse Compton emission of the gamma ray binary PSR B1259-63
in Pétri & Dubus (2011). In the striped wind model for high-energy emission, we observe
a natural narrowing of the pulse width at highest energies due to the increased sensitivity
on relativistic beaming.

8.6. Emission of a more realistic model

In reality, the current sheet in the striped wind is not infinitely thin but possesses a
finite thickness defined by its internal dynamics therefore a spatial extension induced by
pressure in the gas heated to relativistic temperatures. To account for this finite thickness
of the current sheet , it is necessary to integrate emissivity in the whole three dimensional
volume of the wind and not only on the 2D current sheet. To extract meaningful light-
curves we need to set the parameters of a realistic wind model. These can be divided
into three groups
(i) geometrical properties:
• the obliquity χ of the pulsar.
• the inclination ζ of the line of sight with respect to rotation axis.
64 J. Pétri
(ii) magnetic field configuration:
• no radial component Br = 0 but toroidal components given by Bθ , Bϕ ∝ 1/r.
• the current sheet represented as a discontinuous Bϕ , replaced by a transition
layer of thickness (∆ϕ ) inducing a smooth Bϕ polarity reversal.
• accompanied by a significant Bθ component in the current sheet.
(iii) dynamical properties (emitting particles):
• the Lorentz factor Γv of the wind.
• the power law index p of the particle distribution.
• the electron/positron number density K(~r, t) such that the distribution function,
isotropic in momentum space P, ~ is

~ ~r, t) = K(~r, t) E −p .
N (E, P,

Pressure balance implies that a strong magnetic field is associated with low density
plasma and conversely.
We keep the structure of the split monopole but consider only the toroidal component
Bϕ , the two other components being negligible. So the wind velocity is perpendicular
to the magnetic field which simplifies Lorentz transformation of the electromagnetic
field between wind frame and observer frame. Pulsed emission arises in the striped
wind via inverse Compton radiation from synchrotron photons from the nebula or
cosmic microwave background. Particle distribution is mono-energetic. This method is
applied to Geminga, see the phase resolved spectra in Pétri (2009a). Moreover Petri
(2012) showed that the gamma ray luminosity of Fermi/LAT pulsars can be interpreted
as synchrotron emission from the striped wind current sheet as already mentioned
by Lyubarskii (1996). In a stationary state, the radiative losses are compensated by
magnetically reheated particles through magnetic reconnection. The Lorentz factor of
the wind is then estimated as well as the reconnection rate in the relativistic plasma.
Arka & Dubus (2013) investigated the properties of synchrotron radiation in the current
sheet assuming a thermal population of particles and found spectra that peak around the
GeV with gamma-ray efficiency in agreement with Fermi/LAT observations. However,
due to magnetic reconnection in the stripes, Mochol & Pétri (2015) identified two regimes
of particle acceleration, the first limited by radiation reaction and the second by the size
of the accelerating region that strongly impacts on the pulsed inverse Compton spectra
in the sub-TeV band. Reconnection in the current sheet has also been investigated by
Uzdensky & Spitkovsky (2014).
For binary systems with two neutron stars of which at least one is a pulsar, geodetic
precession causes a secular variation in the inclination of the line of sight. We deduce a
variation in the light curve not only in radio but also at higher energies, including X-
rays and gamma-rays. We therefore undertook using the striped wind model to compute
these phase-resolved light curves. Some systems will maybe permit a detection of this
precession in the decades ahead as was shown in Pétri (2015b).
But the striped wind could also be responsible for a non-pulsed emission causing
giant gamma-ray flares around 400 MeV lasting for hours to days like deferred by
Striani et al. (2011); Buehler et al. (2012) and Striani et al. (2013). Baty et al. (2013)
have interpreted this phenomenon as a signature of relativistic magnetic reconnection
operating explosively in the striped wind due to instability caused by the presence of
several neighbouring current sheets. Already two alternations of the field are sufficient to
get violent reconnection. This is known as the double tearing mode. Baty et al. (2013)
work was followed by some numerical improvements (Pétri et al. 2015) and extraction of
synchrotron radiation signature in a post-processing procedure (Takamoto et al. 2015).
 65

Spirals for the orthogonal rotator

10
wind
8
vacuum
6 FFE
4
y/rL 2
0
-2
-4
-6
-8
-10
-10 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10
x/rL

Figure 18. Comparison of the location of the spiral structure for the striped wind (red), the
vacuum (green) and the force-free (blue) solution for the orthogonal rotator. In current sheet
models, dissipation and radiation outside the light cylinder essentially occurs within a small
thickness around this spiral region.

Force-free simulations have shown that the wind outside the light-cylinder resembles to
the split monopole solution with a dominant toroidal magnetic field component. The split
monopole is a simple and good analytical solution at large distances but inadequate to
represent the closed magnetosphere. It is therefore illuminating to compared the phase
shift in the two-armed spirals found in striped wind, the vacuum and the force-free
solution for the orthogonal rotator. The results of the comparisons are made in fig. 18.
The shift is evident and the ordering is, vacuum first, force-free second and split monopole
third. So we conclude that using the split monopole to compute simultaneously polar cap
radio emission and current sheet high-energy emission leads to a time lag between both
pulses which is not the same as for the more realistic force-free solution. If the dipole
geometry inside the light cylinder is taken into account, we expect the delay between
radio and gamma-ray to be less than the lags reported in Pétri (2011). This can explain
the 0.1 phase excess noted in this earlier work.

8.7. Kinetic aspects related to the current sheet

The physical conditions inside the current sheet are badly constraints. A detailed
description would require the modelling of the overall electromagnetic circuitry in the
magnetosphere and even beyond the light cylinder. Unfortunately, such studies are still
not available to a sufficient level of refinement. Also, we have to restrict ourselves
by formulating hypothesis that one can judge more or less reasonable only based on
observational consequences that will be drawn. It seems that several pulsars emitting
mainly in gamma-rays show light curves possessing not two but three or four distinct
peaks. It is already clear that Vela exhibits a third pulse. Moreover, this third pulse
drifts with frequency (Abdo et al. 2009b). This observation tends therefore to eliminate
the striped wind because it only predicts two pulses per rotation, one for each polarity of
the current sheet, sometimes linked to the north pole, sometimes to the south pole. The
66 J. Pétri
nature of the stripes combined to drift motion of e± pairs in different directions leads to
important modification of the light curve shape. We could expect up to four pulses more
or less well separated, depending on the internal dynamic in the current sheet.
From a more fundamental point of view, Pétri & Kirk (2007b,a) have studied in details
the kinetic aspects related to tearing instability for a relativistic current sheet and for the
Weibel instability via a linear analysis of Vlasov-Maxwell equations. In the longer term
simulations of reconnection will benefit from a relativistic approach including kinetic
works previously cited. It could also be supplemented with radiation effects that are
dominant in the stripes.

8.8. Polarization of the synchrotron pulsed emission

To probe the structure of any magnetic field, measurement of synchrotron emission
polarization is often invoked. Synchrotron emission indeed shows a high degree of linear
polarization when the magnetic field in which bathes the leptons is ordered. The striped
wind magnetic field possesses such ordered topology. We therefore expect to observe
a specific pulsed polarisation signature in the emission of the wind. Fortunately such
observations exist for at least one pulsar. Indeed Slowikowska et al. (2009) have reported
with high precision the optical phase-resolved polarization properties of the Crab pulsar.
A study of the polarization of the synchrotron emission reveals strongly discriminating
for later comparison between models and observations.
The polarisation of total emission of the wind is performed by summation on the
distribution function of emitting particles, here the electrons, that is integrated in whole
three dimensional space and for all time. Electrons are assumed to possess a stationary
distribution independent of time, isotropic in momentum and following a power law in
energy. The asymptotic structure of the field such that given by the ideal MHD cannot
give information about the field interior to the current sheet. It is seen as a singularity.
Actually, it has a finite thickness and an inner structure, but the distribution of particles
and magnetic field are still inaccessible to simulations. We only have no choice but to
prescribe a priori its characteristics. Comparisons between our model and observations of
pulsed emission in optical by Slowikowska et al. (2009) are shown in Pétri & Kirk (2005).
Agreement between our model and these are satisfactory. However, a Bϑ component
was necessary to fit properly the data. A complete catalogue of polarization properties
from pulsed synchrotron emission has been compiled for all possible geometries. The
results have been synthesized in Pétri (2013b) using a slightly different prescription for
radiation in the cold and hot part of the wind. Comparing the expectations about phase-
resolved polarisation in optical from several models as presented by Dyks et al. (2004)
and our wind model in Pétri & Kirk (2005), it is obvious that firm conclusions could
be drawn from such observations. Unfortunately, we still await such an instrument able
to detect linear polarisation of photon above several tenth of eV with also a sufficient
temporal resolution. Attempts to use current technology such as INTEGRAL to search
for linearly polarized emission above 200 keV have been conducted by Forot et al. (2008)
who found in a survey of the Crab Nebula a strong signal polarized along the pulsar
rotation axis with some improvements from Chauvin et al. (2013). INTEGRAL was also
used by Dean et al. (2008) to detected gamma-ray polarized emission from the Crab.
Recently Chauvin et al. (2016) reported hard X-ray polarization measurements of the
Crab pulsar with a balloon-borne polarimeter called PoGOLite (Kamae et al. 2008).
There is still a strong debate about the precise location of pulsed high-energy emission
from pulsars. However, the general consensus now is that it must come from regions close
or outside the light-cylinder.
 67
9. Summary
Neutron stars and their most frequent observational manifestations as pulsars are
exquisite space laboratories to explore physics under extreme gravitational and elec-
tromagnetic fields. However, in order to correctly interpret the multi-wavelength signal
detected on Earth, we need a better understanding of the interrelations between the
electromagnetic field, the gravitational field, the plasma and the radiation field. We are
still far from a complete and exhaustive answer to the physics undergoing in pulsar
magnetosphere. Our sparse ideas need a more thorough and systematic investigations.
The wealth of observational data at all wavelengths acquired from systems containing
a neutron star (isolated pulsars, isolated neutron stars, magnetars, binary pulsars)
complicates our tentative to synthesize in a clear manner the subject. Most importantly
it renders our task difficult to extract useful informations.
However, efforts have been made towards a more self-consistent treatment of the elec-
tromagnetic, gravitation, plasma and radiation interactions leading to more quantitative
results. Numerical simulations promise to unveil some aspects of pulsar physics but the
huge gaps between the microphysics and the global structure of this system requires even
more clever ideas to perform realistic meaningful simulations. Improvement in numerical
algorithms are certainly welcome but it is hopeless to expect to get the final answer simply
by running such codes claimed to contain all the physics starting from first principles.
Simulations must be taken with caution and we should never forget that numerical
simulations are useful to encourage critical thinking rather than being a substitute to
brainwork.

10. For further information

For a thorough discussion on several important aspects of pulsar dynamics to more than
an introductory level, the reader is referred to some excellent books. For instance Michel
(1991) although outmoded from an observational point of view, contains a still topical and
interesting theoretical description of neutron stars magnetosphere. Beskin et al. (1993)
discuss in details the kinetic aspects of magnetospheric plasma with pair creation and
radiation mechanisms. Accretion powered pulsars offer some other insight into neutron
star magnetospheric physics (Ghosh 2007). The two last chapters of Mestel (1999)
are devoted to pulsar electrodynamics. Michel & Li (1999) proposed a pedagogical and
convincing discussion of the usefulness of non neutral plasmas in the context of pulsars.
The general theory of these non neutral plasmas is presented in depth by Davidson
(1990).

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