The Equatorial Current Sheet and other interesting features of the Pulsar Magnetosphere

TL;DR

This paper investigates the physical processes driving dissipation in the pulsar magnetosphere's equatorial current sheet, highlighting the importance of the Y-point and the significant energy loss through particle acceleration and radiation.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the pulsar magnetosphere is highly dissipative, with up to 40% of spindown energy dissipated at the equator due to the failure of the electric current to cross the Y-point.

Findings

Large fraction of spindown luminosity dissipated at the equator

Failure of electric current crossing the Y-point causes dissipation

Pulsar magnetosphere is strongly dissipative

Abstract

We want to understand what drives magnetospheric dissipation in the equatorial current sheet. Numerical simulations have limitations and, unless we have a clear a priori understanding of the physical processes involved, their results can be misleading. We argue that the canonical pulsar magnetosphere is strongly dissipative and that a large fraction (up to 30-40% in an aligned rotator) of the spindown luminosity is redirected towards the equator where it is dissipated into particle acceleration and emission of radiation. We show that this is due to the failure of the equatorial electric current to cross the Y-point at the tip of the corotating zone.