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{tag=Physicist}

<Anatoly Spitkovsky> developed time-dependent calculations of plasma-filled <pulsar magnetospheres> using the force-free limit, including cases with a tilted magnetic axis. The simulations determine field structure and rotational <energy> loss while allowing magnetospheric currents and current sheets.<Time-dependent force-free pulsar magnetospheres: axisymmetric and oblique rotators by Anatoly Spitkovsky>[Abstract: numerical method and aligned/oblique rotators]{ref}

Such calculations test the limits of applying a vacuum-dipole picture to a conducting <plasma>. The approximation neglects <plasma> inertia where electromagnetic stresses dominate; it does not assert that the <plasma> is physically absent.


 Anatoly Spitkovsky (source code)