Time Evolution of Pulsar Magnetosphere I - An Implicit Approach

TL;DR

This paper introduces an implicit computational method to simulate the global structure of pulsar magnetospheres, validating known features and enabling future detailed studies of plasma microphysics.

Contribution

It develops a 3D implicit Crank-Nicolson scheme for force-free electrodynamics in pulsar magnetospheres, offering a more efficient and extendable simulation approach.

Findings

Results agree with previous time-dependent models

Simulations can run for many stellar rotations

Code demonstrates qualitative magnetosphere features

Abstract

We apply a computationally efficient technique to validate the global structure of the pulsar magnetosphere. In this first of a series of studies, a 3D, computationally intensive, implicit Crank-Nicolson finite-difference scheme is developed. The region of magnetic influence is evolved under the approximation of force-free electrodynamics. The main objective of this paper is to present our code and use it to demonstrate and verify the now widely - accepted global features of a pulsar magnetosphere. Our results qualitatively agree with previously developed time-dependent models for an oblique rotator. In line with earlier studies, we also demonstrate that our simulations can run for many stellar rotations. Once we extend our code, we believe that our implicit approach can be extremely useful to investigate magnetospheres filled with resistive plasma, develop better resolution current sheets and investigate small scale microphysics of pair creation using particle-in-cell techniques.