Electron Outflow in Axisymmetric Pulsar Magnetospheres. II

Abstract

Tn the axisymmetric pulsar magnetosphere model of Mestel et al. (1985), electrons, following injection with non-negligible speeds from the stellar surface, flow with moderate acceleration, and with poloidal motion that is closely tied to poloidal magnetic field lines, before reaching a limiting surface, near which rapid acceleration occurs. The present paper continues an analysis of flows which either encounter the limiting surface beyond the light cylinder (between the cones of zero axial magnetic field), or do not meet it at all. The formalism introduced by Mestel et aL for the description of the outflow is applied in an extended version which fully incorporates Yo, the emission Lorentz factor of the particles. This treatment removes the singularity of Yo at the stellar poles that occurred in the earlier work: because of a nonuniformity in taking the limit of nonrelativistic injection, full incorporation of Yo acts to keep it finite.