TY - JOUR
T1 - A tale of two current sheets
AU - Arons, Jonathan
AU - Alsop, D.
AU - Amato, E.
AU - Backer, D.
AU - Chang, P.
AU - Bucciantini, N.
AU - Gaensler, B.
AU - Gallant, Y.
AU - Kaspi, V.
AU - Langdon, A. B.
AU - Max, C.
AU - Quataert, E.
AU - Spitkovsky, Anatoly
AU - Tavani, M.
AU - Timokhin, A.
N1 - Funding Information:
The orkw dcesbied here has been uspporetd by FNS grant -0TAS granst NNG06IGJ8G and U05GNNX09A and DOE grant DE-C2F-06
Publisher Copyright:
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011.
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - I outline a new model of particle acceleration in the current sheet separating the closed from the open field lines in the force-free model of pulsar magnetospheres, based on reconnection at the light cylinder and “auroral” acceleration occurring in the return current channel that connects the light cylinder to the neutron star surface. I discuss recent studies of Pulsar Wind Nebulae, which find that pair outflow rates in excess of those predicted by existing theories of pair creation occur, and use those results to point out that dissipation of the magnetic field in a pulsar’s wind upstream of the termination shock is restored to life as a viable model for the solution of the “σ” problem as a consequence of the lower wind 4-velocity implied by the larger mass loading.†
AB - I outline a new model of particle acceleration in the current sheet separating the closed from the open field lines in the force-free model of pulsar magnetospheres, based on reconnection at the light cylinder and “auroral” acceleration occurring in the return current channel that connects the light cylinder to the neutron star surface. I discuss recent studies of Pulsar Wind Nebulae, which find that pair outflow rates in excess of those predicted by existing theories of pair creation occur, and use those results to point out that dissipation of the magnetic field in a pulsar’s wind upstream of the termination shock is restored to life as a viable model for the solution of the “σ” problem as a consequence of the lower wind 4-velocity implied by the larger mass loading.†
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U2 - 10.1007/978-3-642-17251-9_13
DO - 10.1007/978-3-642-17251-9_13
M3 - Conference article
AN - SCOPUS:85034639879
SN - 1570-6591
SP - 165
EP - 180
JO - Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings
JF - Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings
IS - 202589
T2 - 1st Sant Cugat Forum on Astrophysics, 2010
Y2 - 12 April 2010 through 16 April 2010
ER -