Rotating neutron stars without light cylinders

We find a class of twisted and differentially rotating neutron star magnetospheres that do not have a light cylinder, generate no wind and thus do not spin-down. The magnetosphere is composed of embedded differentially rotating flux surfaces, with the angular velocity decreasing as $Ω\propto 1/r$ (equivalently, becoming smaller at the foot-points closer to the axis of rotation). For each given North-South self-similar twist profile there is a set of self-similar angular velocity profiles (limited from above) with a "smooth", dipolar-like magnetic field structure extending to infinity. For spin parameters larger than some critical value, the light cylinder appears, magnetosphere opens up, and the wind is generated.

No reviews yet.

No comments yet.