Particle-in-cell simulations of pulsar magnetospheres: Transition between electrosphere and force-free regimes

F. Cruz, T. Grismayer, R. Torres, A. Y. Chen, A. Spitkovsky, R. A. Fonseca, L. O. Silva

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

Aims. Global particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations of pulsar magnetospheres are performed with volume-, surface-, and pair-production-based plasma injection schemes to systematically investigate the transition between electrosphere and force-free pulsar magnetospheric regimes. Methods. We present a new extension of the PIC code OSIRIS that can be used to model pulsar magnetospheres with a two-dimensional axisymmetric spherical grid. The subalgorithms of the code and thorough benchmarks are presented in detail, including a new first-order current deposition scheme that conserves charge to machine precision. Results. We show that all plasma injection schemes produce a range of magnetospheric regimes. Active solutions can be obtained with surface and volume injection schemes when using artificially large plasma-injection rates, and with pair-production-based plasma injection for sufficiently large separation between kinematic and pair-production energy scales.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numberA229
JournalAstronomy and Astrophysics
Volume690
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 1 2024

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

Keywords

  • methods: numerical
  • pulsars: general
  • relativistic processes

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