A Cylindrical Pulsar Magnetosphere Model with Particle Inertia

Abstract

An investigation is made of the equations to a steadily rotating nonaxisymmetric pulsar magnetosphere model, with the effects of particle inertia fully incorporated but with no dissipative forces. As an illustrative example the basic theory is applied to a 'cylindrical pulsar' model, in which quantities do not vary parallel to the rotation axis. It is shown that Endean's Bernoulli-type integral imposes severe constraints on particle motion, indicating that, in a realistic model, dissipation (e.g. by radiation damping) may play an essential role.